Mato Wayuhi


Mato Standing Soldier, professionally known as Mato Wayuhi, is an Oglala Lakota actor, musician, producer, and composer from South Dakota, United States known for his studio albums and his original soundtrack for the television series Reservation Dogs.

Early life

Mato Standing Soldier grew up in Sioux Falls, spending a notable amount of time on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Wayuhi had an interest in music from a young age but, he did not start creating pieces until he was 15. While attending Lincoln High School, he began experimenting with rapping and music production, influenced by multiple genres from traditional Lakota music to punk rock. His interest in music production was a hobby Wayuhi tooled with in his basement until, taking a course on music production, where he learned basic skills and it "opened up everything" for him. Mato Wayuhi graduated with a bachelor's degree in Cinematic Arts from the University of Southern California, where he further developed his artistic voice.

Career

2014-2016: Beginnings

In his later years of high school and first years of college, Mato Wayuhi released multiple singles and EPs on various music streaming platforms. His earliest single, titled " was released in 2014 followed by eight singles throughout 2014-2016. After these initial singles, Wayuhi released his first and second EPs, and in 2016. The last piece of this time period was the single, ", which was a song dedicated to Wayuhi's late friend and collaborator. Wayuhi's songs prior to 2017 are not available on his Spotify or Apple Music pages.

2017-2019: Part-Time Indian and Scatterbrain

Wayuhi continued to publish singles going into 2017. He released four different singles and then, in 2018, ", which would be a song featured on his first album. Said album, , was named after the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, reflecting the album's overall themes. This album is partially why Mato Wayuhi became the composer for Reservation Dogs, with director, Sterlin Harjo reaching out to Wayuhi after listening to Part-Time Indian. The song, " on Part-Time Indian brought new interest to Wayuhi's music as well, having over 200,000 streams on Spotify. Wayuhi wrote that the music video for "Stone Cold Lover" was even shown to the cast of Reservation Dogs by Harjo.
In 2018, Wayuhi with the band, Treehorse, entered the single, " to NPR's Tiny Desk Contest. The song did not win but, received a shout out. Over the next year, Wayuhi would put out and , the former featuring the artist, who Wayuhi has worked with often. These two singles led up to Wayuhi's second album, ''. Along with the previously mentioned AWU! and Treehorse, Scatterbrain'' also featured and .

Awards/Appearances

Wayuhi received a shoutout by NPR's Tiny Desk in 2018 for his entry “Wildberry Poptart” backed by the band Treehorse. Pillar Fitzgerald, then assistant manager of Tiny Desk Concert, described his song as “a critique of the traditional American dream, direct from the mouth of the oppressed.”
Wayuhi received critical acclaim for his 2024 album STANKFACE STANDING SOLDIER and was also featured in the 2023 publication of Forbes 30 under 30.In film and television, Wayuhi has also made name for himself, scoring and acting in the television series Reservation Dogs. He co-wrote the music for the film War Pony, which was featured at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and won best first feature. Wayuhi also makes an appearance in the 2025 show The Lowdown as the character Chutto McIntosh.

Discography

Studio albums

  • BYGONER - 2025
  • STANKFACE STANDING SOLDIER - 2024
  • Pleasure - 2021
  • Scatterbrain - 2019
  • Part-Time Indian - 2018

    Soundtrack albums

  • Reservation Dogs ' - 2021
  • Reservation Dogs: Season 2 ' - 2022
  • Reservation Dogs: The Final Season '''' - 2023

    Singles

  • Leftovers - 2025
  • Mischief - 2025
  • Sundowner - 2025
  • Constellations - 2025
  • FEE FI FO FUM - 2024
  • NAMESAKE - 2024
  • VEILS - 2023
  • The Roof - 2023
  • KETCHUP POTATO CHIPS - 2023
  • BOOGEY BOY - 2023
  • FALL OUT BOY - 2023
  • STANKFACE - 2023
  • Constellations - 2021
  • The Ends - 2021
  • Overwhelmed - 2020
  • Come See Me Live - 2019
  • Hooky! - 2019
  • Beeswax - 2018
  • Fly With Ya - 2018
  • Roam - 2017
  • Salmon - 2017
  • Blossom - 2017

    Filmography

Television

Music Videos

Publications

  • "Tory" in My Life: Growing up Native in America New York: MTV Entertainment Books