Matt Lorenz was raised in Cavendish, Vermont, the son of schoolteachers. He learned to sing by copying his sister Kate; the siblings are two-thirds of the touring trio Rusty Belle.

Lorenz graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 2004, having taught himself to throat-sing, inspired by a South Indian cooking class.

On moving day, he pulled a guitar, filled with mold and worse for wear, from a dorm dumpster. He fixed it up and started pulling songs out of it. That was the beginning.

Since then, as The Suitcase Junket, he has built a powerful fan base in his native New England and far beyond. With combined streams of 1.25 million on Spotify he was named on Spotify’s Best of 2016 Folk & Americana and Blues & Roots Rock playlists. He also caught the attention of National Public Radio who chose his video session for Earth Apple from his 2015 album Make Time as one of the year's favourite sessions.