AUTHOR, MUSIC WRITER, FATHER, MEDIOCRE GUITAR PLAYER
Weaving the author’s coming of age in 1980s New York with his life as a father today, this Nick Hornby–meets–Cheryl Strayed debut memoir examines father-son relationships, the pain of early parent loss, and the importance of embracing your passions.
For nearly fifteen years, Matt Fogelson didn’t recognize how deeply the early death of his workaholic father had affected him. Then he had a son of his own and the floodgates opened, helping him realize that even deeper than the wound left by his father’s death were the wounds inflicted by his absence while alive.
Restrung follows Fogelson from his beginnings as a music-loving kid combing through vinyl in Greenwich Village, through his struggles to overcome his grief during young adulthood, and into becoming a man who is startled by the reemergence of his long-suppressed passion for music after becoming a father. Told with humor, grief, and hope, it’s the story of a passionate music lover’s effort to break free of the real and imagined constraints standing between him and his best life—an effort that ultimately allows Fogelson’s son to know his father in a way Fogelson never knew his.
Funny and deeply honest, Restrung is a balm for every father and son fortunate enough to still have each other in their lives. It will inspire readers to try to cross the emotional gulf that seems almost endemic to the father-son relationship and finally break through to one another.​​​
Coming February 3, 2026
Advance Praise for Restrung
“In a world where fathers and sons often yearn for connection but rarely achieve true intimacy, Matt Fogelson turns to music as both a lifeline and a language when words fail.
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In Restrung, Fogelson explores how music not only shaped his identity as a young man but also became a bridge to his own son—offering a powerful alternative to the outdated, stoic model of masculinity he inherited. Rather than hiding emotion, Fogelson embraces it, challenging the damaging belief that vulnerability is weakness.
The result is a tender, wise, and often funny meditation on what it means to be a fully present father—one who leads not through silence, but through openness, empathy, and connection.
Rich in heart and musical soul, Restrung is a moving call to reimagine fatherhood in a new key—one that sings instead of stifles. A joy to read, the viscerality of music in Fogelson’s life is a compass we can all use for navigation."
--Holly Gleason, New York Times best-selling co-author of Heart Life Music
"Written with emotional exactitude and soulful narrative precision, Restrung is a deeply affecting, cross-generational book about fatherhood and loss, but it's also about how music is the connective tissue that binds us all together. From Dylan to the Dead to Joe Jackson, Fogelson uses his record collection as a compass to make sense of both his childhood and the child he's raising. An engaging memoir about fathers, sons and how the things we never say are louder than the things we hear, this is powerful and unreasonably brilliant work."
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--Alex Green, Host of Stereo Embers the Podcast
" ‘Music as succor, music as sustenance--music as savior.’ In Restrung, Matt Fogelson has penned a Gen X tender and gritty anthem to a life in love with rock 'n' roll. The memoir is a ballad to the father he lost and a love song to his young son. Underneath the memoir's twinned reflections on Fogelson's discovery of the rock scene and on his young fatherhood, Restrung throbs with the bassline of what it means to become a man.”
--Hilary Zaid, author of Paper is White
and Forget I Told You This
“A compelling memoir of a young urban music fan diving headlong into the passion and pathos of rock ‘n’ roll.”
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--Jim White, Pushcart Prize winner and musician
Hey there, and thanks for finding your way here, a one-stop shop for all things Matt Fogelson—my essays, music blog, and memoir project.
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My essays, many of which explore the confluence of music and parenting, have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, literary journals, online magazines and on NPR.
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I started my music blog, Fine Tuning: A Site for Sore Ears, to nudge classic rock fans like myself who were stuck—albeit blissfully—in the deep ruts of the 1970s into the twenty-first century musically. Although the blog focuses on new bands, it's also a vehicle to brood about weighty topics that consume me—like the tragic extinction of the ticket stub. The blog is now housed over at Substack, but the archive lives here.
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I spent the pandemic years squirreled away in my windowless basement working on a memoir. It was dark down there, but I found the darkness had a way of conjuring light. The product of that endeavor, Restrung: Fatherhood in a Different Key, will be published on February 3, 2026!
