How a tragic loss is bringing the blues rock world together

When blues rock guitarist and songwriter Matt Long passed away in 2024 after an 18-month battle with bowel cancer, the outpouring of love from the music community was immediate and profound. Long, best known as the frontman and creative force behind the award-winning UK band Catfish, had been named “Instrumentalist of the Year” twice at the UK Blues Awards. Only 29 years old, he left behind not just a catalog of powerful songs but a lasting impact on everyone who crossed his path.

For Matt’s parents, Paul and Fiona Long, grief soon gave rise to a mission to celebrate their son’s music and spirit in a way that could also help others. The result is With a Little Help from My Friends, a double album that brings together some of the most respected names in blues rock, including Joe Bonamassa and Walter Trout, to reimagine Matt’s songs and carry his legacy forward.

A Project Born from Friendship and Love

“The album started as an idea from a musician friend, Dudley Ross, initially just to ask Matt’s hero Joe Bonamassa if he would play on one of Matt’s songs,” said Matt’s mother, Fiona Long. When Bonamassa said yes, what began as a simple tribute quickly grew into something far greater.

Matt and his family had met Joe several times over the years through Fiona’s husband, Paul, who produced the Paul Jones Blues Show on BBC Radio 2. “On one occasion, when Joe heard that Matt was about to go to music college, he gave him a little practice amp from his dressing room,” Fiona recalled. “Matt was beside himself, and we still have the amp. It would have meant the world to him to be singing on the same track as Joe Bonamassa, albeit posthumously.”

Encouraged by Joe’s generosity, Fiona began to reach out to other musicians who had supported Matt during his illness and at the benefit gigs held in his honor. The response was overwhelming. Soon, a lineup featuring Elles Bailey, The Cinelli Brothers, When Rivers Meet, Brave Rival, Blue Nation, Sean Webster, Dom Martin, Chantel McGregor, Will Wilde, and Alice Armstrong, among others, came together to record Matt’s songs.

Two of Matt’s guitar tutors from the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, Nic Meier and Nat Martin, also contributed solos. And then, as if the project needed another emotional layer, Walter Trout, one of blues rock’s most beloved figures and a liver transplant survivor, joined in. Both Trout and Bonamassa recorded guitar solos on tracks that retain Matt’s original vocals.

“Both tracks sound incredible, and it is so lovely to hear Matt’s voice again,” Fiona told Blues Rock Review. “We struggled to start with, but we now realise how lucky we are to have so much of him still here with us through his music and video footage.  Not every bereaved parent has that.”

A Tribute That Heals

For the Long family, working on the album became both a tribute and a source of healing. “It has been a welcome distraction this year while we’ve tried to adjust to not having Matt here,” Fiona says. “Even a year on from his death, it’s still incredibly difficult to talk about him without tears, but having this album as a tribute to Matt and at the same time raising funds for the cancer ward that cared for him is a small comfort to us.”

That comfort is matched by the generosity of those who helped bring the project to life. Dan Lucas of Joplin House Studios in Kent opened his studio free of charge and mixed much of the album. Matt’s close friend and former writing partner, Alice Armstrong, created the album’s cover art, another deeply personal touch.

The title, With a Little Help from My Friends, comes from the encore at last year’s benefit concert at The Stables in Wavendon, where many of the same artists performed together in Matt’s honor. The live recording of that moment closes the album, perfectly capturing the sense of community that defines the entire project.

Carrying Matt’s Legacy Forward

All proceeds from the album will go to the cancer ward at Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, where Matt received treatment. “We need to make something good come from this horrendous situation of having lost our son,” Fiona says. “We’ve already sponsored a scholarship at his old music college and funded a hand-held ultrasound machine for the ward, but if this album does well, it could raise enough to help the hospital in a much more meaningful way. If we can make other patients’ cancer journey a little easier, I hope Matt would have approved.”

Through his music, Matt often spoke openly about his struggles with depression and anxiety, hoping to connect with listeners who might feel the same. Fiona hopes that honesty will continue to resonate. “He always played with passion and wrote from personal experience so that he could connect with a song on a very direct level,” she says. “I also hope the fact that he bared his soul and spoke openly about his struggle with depression will inspire others not to be afraid to talk about it if they’re suffering themselves.”

The album features songs from both Catfish and Matt Long and his heavier project, the Revenant Ones, showcasing the full range of his talent, from soulful blues ballads to heavier, more experimental rock. “I hope they will appreciate him as a songwriter as well as a musician,” Fiona adds.

Some of the songs have been completely reimagined by his friends, which makes each track unique and very special. “We hope it will be a lasting tribute to him,” says Fiona.

A Celebration of a Life and Sound

For Fiona and Paul, the release is both heartbreaking and uplifting, a reminder that their son’s music continues to touch people even after he’s gone. “We were overwhelmed, although not entirely surprised, as the blues community have always been incredibly supportive of each other and of Matt,” said Fiona. “We saw that last year with the benefit gigs all over the country for Matt where all the artists gave their time for free, and the massive support for the crowdfunder, which raised over £100k to give Matt access to additional drugs not currently available on the NHS.  We will never forget that.”

With a Little Help from My Friends will go on presale on November 7, which would have been Matt’s 31st birthday. The first single will arrive the same day, with more to follow in the coming months before the full album release in spring 2026.