Isn’t his stuff just gawdawful? Some people can and do merge various musical traditions—it’s the basis for countless works of music over time. Matthews just kinda plops coloration from a generic NPR “world music” concept of diversity onto his boring songwriting, and makes a weird-sounding mess.
I have a very personal list of individuals and groups that practice what I call “musical contrivance.”
Almost no one agrees with my list.
I post it anyway. (This is by no means the whole list, just the major players.)
The Who
Heart
Jackson Browne
Coldplay
Oasis
(most of) The Beatles
Dave Matthews
99% of all Rap & Hip-Hop (Exception for the Beastie Boys)
Anything that makes me reach for my son’s insulin
Peter, Paul and Commie
Overly extrapolated guitar solos
...you get the idea.