ITS Home Edition: Matt Stell

they're coping with the pandemic. But I have to confess I'm just a little intimidated by how productive Matt has been during all of this, although that does seem to

be a lifelong habit for him. He told our quarantine correspondent Jordan runt Hog that when he was in college in the early two thousands and he was playing basketball for Drury University, he was stuck on campus one winter break, so he called his mom and asked for the guitar that she had given him when he was twelve so he could use his downtime to teach himself how to play it. And then he was writing songs pretty quickly after that, and now he's in Nashville making country hits.

Matt actually says structure helps keep him productive. So I'm going to stop talking and go put a few new skills I want to learn on my calendar. Anyway, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out the I Heart Radio podcast that Jordan's hosts HiT's called Rivals Music's Greatest Feuds, and it's available wherever you get your podcast. Hello, everybody,

My name is Jordan Runtog, But enough about me. My guest today very nearly became a doctor, but then he decided to stick with the guitar and moved to Nashville. Medicine's loss was music's game because he's one of country's rising stars. He broke through with Prey for You, the Instant Wedding Standard, which was certified platinum earlier this year. He's kept busy during Quarantine with a series of social media songwriting session it's called penned Up. Now he's about

to release a new EP better than that. I'm so happy to welcome Matt Still. Matt, thank you so much for taking the time. Oh glad to be here, Jordan, thanks for having me. How you do that? How does life in lockdown find you? On this day? Man. You know, the sun's out here shining, and we're kind of, you know, like everybody else, kind of cutting the groove on the new normal, and um, you know, wrote a song this morning via zoom and so that's been good, you know,

staying creative. And the weather is nice, so you know, not much to complain about. Oh man, So I feel like everyone I know, it's either they're either incredibly productive or they're just like I can barely get out of bed. No, don't ask me to do that. Sounds like you're on the productive side. Well, it's it's like I am. If there's structure involved, it really helps to have things that I have to do, because if not, days can just

really get away really really easily. So when I have things on the calendar that I have to do in a certain time period, that usually keeps me pretty productive. But I'm just like everybody else, man, sometimes when that's alarm clock goes off and I'm like, I don't have to be up, you know, so I'll just I'll ty go some liberties there. But the structure surely helps songwriting,

especially in Nashville, such a collaborative process. I imagine that can't be the same over zoom right now, having that like in person electricity, how is like doing it over zoom impacted You're you're writing, Yeah, you know that, that's very true. It is. It is different. There are some some silver linings, you know, you know, the workflow is a little bit more efficient sometimes because you know, you cut out yeah, I mean, you can cut out the commutes.

I found that zoom writing works best with people that you already know or have met before, because that's a little bit tough to kind of do online, you know, although everybody's kind of getting used to it now, so in some ways it's it's interesting in handy, but man, really though that electricity in the room when you get excited about an idea, you know, there's just really nothing like it. So, you know, I've done a few, you know, as as life has permitted, done a few in person rights.

But you know, it's nice to still be able to uh get in right with folks now. And I think it will become more of the norm, you know, like people would be familiar with using it, so it'll be something it'll be an option, more of a go to even when we get back to normal, I think, and you were doing that the pend Up songwriting workshops with Lindsay l and jameson Rogers on Instagram. How much of your new EP was written during these sessions? Man, I'm trying to think I might have I might have a

couple on there from those sessions. I know, definitely, you know Selfiously, for me, I'm a fan of those guys, and I guess got to listen to employ what we call fresh bake cookies, you know, stuff that was just hot off the presses. So I just really enjoyed it from that aspect. But you know, again, like I mentioned earlier, you know, having structure and having knowing that I had

that to do every week. You know, it's not like it's all that long, but it does take a while to to get a song together, especially if you're trying to write it by yourself, which Lindsay was the best at and then we all kind of did so sporadically there, but that really kind of helps set things up and and really put put some tracks to travel down. That's for sure. You know EP better than that. I want to ask, what's the most autobiographical song on their new EP?

Oh Man, that's a great question. Probably probably everywhere, but

on I would. I would have to say I wrote that song, and there's a lot of me in that song anyway A I wrote it, and then subsequently, after releasing it, I got to live a whole bunch more of the of what's on that in that song, So that that probably cuts the closest to autobiographical there's there's generally, you know, there's generally some kind of kernel of of me and these songs, you know, I think about him as characters a lot of times, the main character in

the song, so they're not always me, but a lot of them have a lot of shared I guess experiences with me. So that's that's kind of how I attack it. But everywhere, yeah, everywhere, but on is definitely probably Yeah, that's the most autobiographical. I was like, on the flip side of that, it's kind of look at me now. It's like, you know, it's your big day at the altar, wait and meat for the your bride to come down

the aisle with her dad lud down the aisle. Is that any kind of it's definitely gonna be a wedding staple. I think up there with Prayed for You, Is that a hint of anything going on your personal life or nuts. So really none whatsoever, but uh, but that that song was written by one of my best friends, Joe Fox and and Seth Ennis and Thomas Fincherman, you know, I've made records my self, and and I moved to Nashville

to be a songwriter. That's really what I wanted to do, um, whether what I was most interested in, and and I thought I would just do that and then make a little weird records of my own, but then write songs for bigger artists. And so you know, the cards I

got dealt. That's not the position I'm in anymore. But I say that to say, you know, I've always have a passion for songs, and it's like, um, I've always written everything I've ever put out until this project, and then I think I think three of them were outside cuts. And you know, to me, that's really kind of if you're passionate about songs, I look at it as you kind of have to pick the best songs, whether you

wrote it or not. And man, that song I don't even to be I'm just gonna be a hunter sent honest with you, those are not my favorite kind of songs, like love songs, happy ever after kind of thing is not me. That's not what I gravitate towards. No, it

doesn't come that naturally to me. No, But when I heard that song, I knew immediately it was a spectacular song and I and I knew I wanted to be a part of it, and I wanted to interpret it and record it and be the person that gets to sing it because I just feel like it's such a great song. You know, that's really where you know, that's that's really where that came from, and you know, making it on the project and again it's one of my best friends sent it to me, and so that that

was another great part of it. I love the track Sadie too. I was trying to figure out, I don't know why. I was trying to figure what the relationship was with the singer and Sadie. I was trying to figure out if it was a lover and acts of friends. Yeah, you know, it's kind of in those great areas. Sadie's like, you know, when you had a relationship but then you don't, but then you still kind of do have a relationship, whether or not that's a friendship now or some kind

of scale back version. You don't. You know, those ties aren't always severed cleanly, and it's sort of it's sort of that kind of deal. It's someone that's that's been in the relationship and then been not in it and then kind of sees it from afar and it's like, I'll be here one way or the other. I thought it was a real cool take on it. Man, what a great melody that song has, and and uh, it's uh, it's a really fun want to do live for sure.

And you sort of very famously went to school on a basketball scholarship and nearly went down the premed track. What made you first start to not only play songs but want to write songs self? Was that like a defining moment? Yes, spare time like like boredom? Really, No, I've always been passionate about music. I didn't really, I didn't know that I was any more passionate than anyone else was. But I knew I love music and it and it turned out that, you know, I really loved it.

And you know, when I was playing basketball, that's a winter sports. You're on campus the whole winter break, and so you've got you've got time to kill on those days where you don't have class and you're not practicing. And so my mom had got me a guitar when

I was like twelve that I never touched. After Christmas morning, I just asked her to bring it up to to school and I just sat in front of my computer screen a lot like this right here, and and learned how to play just old country, southern rock songs, all those acoustic guitar songs that you hear in bars and

man about I don't know. I started writing songs pretty quickly after I could uh mash three chords together, and I, um, I fell in love with with a singer songwriters like that tradition and things, and a lot of what I was listening to at the time was coming out of Texas, and that's really was my first kind of foray into writing songs and listening to songs like original music, and really having a passion not only for my own original music, but for you know, other music kind of out there

kind of indie stuff and and um, so that's really where it kind of all started. A lot of musicians and artists, when they first get started singing rinning their own music, they say that they're they're almost doing impressions of other singers, of their favorite singers that before they find their own voice, they're doing their their impressions of

their favorites. Who are some of yours? Man, I was really trying to be Steve Earle for a long time, or at least one of those voices I wanted to emulate, you know. I was a big fan and still am of him. You know, Jason Isable is another one that songwriter that I admire quite a bit. But then you know, country radio was also big going on, and heroes from the nineties from you know, George and Garth and Travis trid a bunch all those folks, you know, had a

big influence on me. You know, I guess I was trying to emulate those guys initially, and and like you said, you know, you kind of find your own voice, but it's it's hard to do, especially when you figure out that, you know, just what you like is not necessarily who you are. So there's you know, you sort of follow the passion of what you like and it'll take you down a road, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's who you are. That's just kind of how you figure that out.

And I figured that out at least have to it to some degree now. And it was kind of a long journey, but it's because I was emulating those guys initially. That's where I started. Well, I know you're you're an Arkansas native, but you have your roots in Texas. Do you consider yourself a red dirt country artist? And if so, how would you describe the red dirt country sounds? And it was like hard to put a finger on. Yeah, no,

totally not anymore. Really, I don't. I wouldn't call myself a red dirt artist now, and but I did come up, you know, really inspired by by those folks and uh and and that was really my first foray into music and into original music. So the only thing that I hope that I you know, I wouldn't say that I sound like that. I mean, we still put a lot of rock and roll in what we do, especially in

live shows, and that's kind of that. But there's just really always an independence streak in Texas, Americana, red dirt music, you know, whichever you wanna call it. I mean, all of those things are discreet things, but that's the thing that holds it all together to me. I mean, you have things that sound like, you know, kind of garage band stuff, and you have things that sound like country music from Boylan Jennings was born now and and so. But I think it's that that independence, that kind of

and that authenticity that that holds it all together. And that's what I hope that I've taken from spending that time there and learning from those guys you you mentioned being who you are. I wanted to ask you about the amazing video for if I was a bar where you are. I think, by my account, thirteen different people

something like that. Yeah. Man, we we did the old Nutty, we did the old Coming to America Eddie Murphy trick where we just played a bunch of different characters at one you know, I played a bunch of characters obviously in the in the bar there and trying to basically figure out a creative way to make a music video during these times and especially early on then when Lockdown was pretty pretty stringent, follow all the rules and be as safe as we can, but at the same time

still find ways and to be creative. And man, that was a that was a ton of fun to do, and it took a lot of talented people that's every stitch of clothing that I owned I'm wearing like I don't have it anymore. Yeah. Yeah, I've been all those people at one point in time, so I don't have Yeah. That that's that's pretty much the extent of my closet there.

One of my family members works in film, and I actually was on the set when Eddie Murphy was filming some scenes for I think it was not the Professor too, and he had he was Sherman Cump and then all around them were tennis balls with labels on them of all the different characters that he was also playing, and so he could like look at them and look know where he was looking where everybody was talking. Did they

do that with you? Did they give you, like, you know, different points to look at labels of where where your other selves? Yes? Yeah, so you know the difference was a lot of my scenes would just have you know too maybe three people in it. So the way the camera works is you just you can't move anything the background or really cross over into someone else's space. And so that was the direction there was, like here's a glass on the bar, don't put your arm any farther

than that, and then have a conversation with yourself. So it was it was incredible. It was a lot of fun. Did you have a favorite one of yourselves to play? The ron Burger? Do you want to the bartender? Yeah? I love playing that. When we call Parnell Hawkins, I think he drives a truck. That that one was a lot of fun. He looks like the guy off of Office Space that it looks like the neighbor from Office Space. Yeah, oh my god, you're right. Yeah, So that was a

ton of fun. And uh, all of them really were. You know. I had to I was playing a fiddle player in that in the band, and I had to get on my phone and and google which hand the fiddle went in and which hand the bow went in, so that I think, cause I think the first time I shot it, I got it wrong. So, uh so you you have your repeat better than that? Is there a full album coming in in the pipes too? Yeah? Man, you know, we're all the time working on new music.

I've got a ton of new music that I'm really proud of. That's really been the best thing about this whole quarantine situation is all the songs I've gotten to write, and I'm excited about that. You know, timing on those kinds of things. It's just always so fluid now because we don't really know what the world's gonna look like.

But rest is sure. We got lots of new music coming out, and once we get this EP out, got a bunch of new stuff on it, then we'll I have to imagine that we'll be following it up pretty soon with with some new stuff from there. Uh, if you going forward, do you plan on doing any more penned up episodes? I think we might. I think we might do a penned up or two again and just kind of a reunion because man, it was so much

it was so much fun. People will come and watch, you know, those deals and um and and then, like I said selfishly, I always want to hear what people I'm fans of, you know here and playing music and here and play new music because I love new music. And you know, Lindsay obviously just put out a new record that's great. And so I think probably when her whirlwind kind of dies down a little bit and she can kind of catch her breath, I might hit her back up to get on with us again, and uh,

and do do a little reunion to her. That'll be a lot of fun. It's funny all the things that we do over face time in zoom. Now I think you were I believe, the first person presented with a platinum disc for Prayed for you a few months back over zoom, basically over FaceTime. What was that like? Oh,

it was great. I mean those those plaques and things, you're just commemorate a milestone, and you know, like with me, I one thing that I've learned is, you know, as I look around my office here, I just moved and I've got a bunch of plaque on the floor and things like that that I haven't hung up, but you know, a lot of them just have like my name on it. That doesn't tell the whole or even most of the story, because it takes I mean, I've said this a bunch,

but it's just true. It takes so many people to have any kind of success, of people with a passion for the project and for their job and for music, and so it's like, you know, it's just a shared thing, and and um, it should have you know, these plaques, these number one plaque should have a hundred names on them,

because man, it takes so many people to believe. It takes so many people to work very hard that you have to collaborate with and and you know, I'm one of the lucky ones in that I get to work with a lot of really great people. So so yeah, and we got that first platinum plaque over zoom and and celebrated it. At some point, I think we'll get a physical one and we'll have then we'll get to celebrate twice, so it'll be perfect. Yeah, what are they

like facts to like the first one, like the temporary one. Yeah, they just like held up a like somebody took a took a sharpie to a piece of paper and like drew a platinum dish. It was like, yeah, platinum. I was like, there you go. So but now it's pretty incredible. I uh looks an awful lot, Like exactly, are you sure that sons sharpie on on paper? But I'd be lying. You know, everybody has dreams. I always wanted to do that, but man, the journey to get something something like that

is never what you think it's gonna be. So you know, it's sometimes even still surreal. Now that we've we've celebrated the platinum a platinum record, man, it's pretty crazy. And getting to the Opery too. I think it's about a year ago you you first were there, right, that must have been. It was. It was crazy. It was so much fun. I had so much family come up from Arkansas and Florida and Texas and other places and celebrate that,

you know, together, and a bunch of them came. After the show, we all went to a bar and and sat there and eight chicken wings and Draco beer, and you know, it was It just really meant a lot that that men people came and that was a really really special night. And that's something I will always remember. And it's one of the great honors that I've had, is to not only get to play the Opery, but get to do it with a bunch of family and friends.

It was really really great. You did a really cool thing not too long ago with uh I think Sadie Robertson from Duck Dynasty. You surprised some couples over Zoom who had their weddings postponed and they had chosen your song, prayed for you to be there their wedding song. What was that like? I mean, just to know you you wrote this song and now it's going to be part of people's lives, you know, forever, their wedding song. It's

a huge deal. What what is that feeling? Man, It's the best compliment in the world that people want to include a song like that in the day that's that special to them. And you know, that's the reason I wanted to start playing music in the first place. Was nothing makes me feel the way my favorite songs do, and I wanted to kind of do that if I could.

You know, in this case, we wrote this song that that has meant a lot of people, you know, not only from weddings, but you know, things like a promotion at work, or getting through school, or having kids, or even have a guy tell me that the song they meant a lot to him when he was trying to when he was incarcerated. You know, it helped him get

through doing a stand in prison. And I wasn't thinking about that at the time, but you know, man, Yeah, it's it's incredible that that a song can mean that can mean something and mean a lot to people in

a lot of different ways. So and and Sadie's Sadie's deal that she did basically surprising a bunch of couples whose weddings were co opted by by covid here and we got to do a little something for him and and meet and chat and play the song, and man, you know, that's just that's what's all about music and good times and good people. So when you're not writing, which I know it takes up a entire time, what's

your favorite way to just check out and relax. You've got like a favorite distraction like learning to cook or Netflix shows the Bends or something that it's definitely not cooking. I can do, like I can do like two things. I can make us make a pretty good steak and a cast iron skillet, And I can uh roll things in flower and film in hot grease, and I'm pretty good at that. But that's about it, really. But what's the yeah, right exactly exactly? So you know, I play

a lot of golf anytime I can. I love to play golf, and I love to gamble on golf. Those are my Playing golf for money is a lot of fun, and my buddies and I geek out pretty hard over that kind of stuff. And now we got football, there'll be some uh some fantasy wagering and things like that. Happening, and man, any anything like that. Man, it's been. It's uh. I still try to get out as much as I cannot. Just again, it's it's obviously the time we live and makes it tough. But I try to get out and

play basketball as much as I can. You know, I get that shoot around, maybe maybe a small pickup game if if the numbers are right. Yeah, that's that's pretty much it. Get outside, try to run. I'll do some hunting this fall. I've read a lot of books, so it's somewhere in those sort of things I saw on Instagram. You had your dad's in nineteen sixty four four Galaxy five d X L at is a I'm a huge old card nut. Did you grow up with a lot of those types of cars around? I mean that that's

that's a beautiful machine, man. Not really those my uh you know, growing up we weren't we weren't buy any stretch like you know, poor, but my dad had later kind of when I grew up a little bit, his business really took off, and so those I had never been around those kind of cars that kind of like that Galaxy that was a museum piece basically, man, it was it was really really sharp. We went I actually got in tickets to Barrett Jackson out in uh Scottsdale

in twenty fifteen, I think, yeah, fifteen or sixteen. We went out there and uh we bought that Uh I say we uh he bought that car and uh man, we had a great time and we were actually getting ready to send it. He had that and some Mustangs kind of later model Mustangs and some other stuff that we were gonna send out to Barrett Jackson, and unfortunately passed away. So I had to take him out there by myself off and it's kind of bittersweet, but he was ready to he was ready to move on from him,

and he enjoyed them for while he had him. And one of these days, one of these days, I'm hoping to have me a galaxy just like that, but but something that's a little more drivable, because that thing was like restored to what it was back in the sixties. And I mean it had manual breaks and in a little nylon ten inch wide tires and not even well not even that wide, but just a lot of things that weren't quote unquote safe, unquote unquote reliable or you know,

but man, it was a real badass car. For sure, it looked unreal. It's it's funny cars can bond fathers and sons. My dad's had a hinteen seventy four MG mid you know, the little tiny thing that he and his friends could pick up like it's so small and literally, yeah, we we always used to drive that around and fix it up and the thing never worked right, last part

of the fun British cars. The best struck story I have right now is uh my grandmother on my mom's side, in nineteen nineties, she bought, uh or maybe an eighty nine. She bought a little single cab four wheel drive GMS CC her like a ninety model. She she sold that truck to me back probably ten years ago or so or for like nothing basically, and then I turned sold it to my dad who sold it to a guy. Well, I had occasion to buy that truck back from the

guy that my dad sold it to. So I bought that truck back, and my dad's best friend who actually went out to Barrett Jackson with us, so this kind of comes full circle. I took it to him and him and his brother's on a on a body shop painting body shop and along with another mechanic friend of mine, have done a frame off restoration of this model GMC pick up and I'm it's almost done. I had to go online and scour the internet for the for the

factory wheels for it, but I finally found him. We're just about ready to uh have that done, and I'm gonna do a big social media like thing about it because it it's really really a sharp truck. And my grandma bought it new and and she's excited about it too. I get just she's really ready to see it. So that's gonna be fun. Uh Man, that is awesome to get a good sound system and that's the best place to list to music when you're driving around. One man,

one percent. I need to, I need to. I think I'm gonna put the factory radio in it, but just run like an OX cable at the bottom and maybe if I can hide some nice speakers in the dash, I'll probably do that now. Like when I was a kid, I would have put like two twelves behind the seat where I couldn't even fit in it, and six behind lines in the door. But uh, I'm trying to keep this one is like as uh factory looking as possible. Hey, I meant to say earlier I loved your cover of

the Ariana Grande song God is a Woman. I love how you had like the title and lower caps and the credits to like she does. Like a lot of people would have been surprised that you covered that, Like, what's what's the most surprising thing that's that you're listening to right now? Oh? Man, Well, firstly, that that is

just an incredible song, just subjectively great. It's it to me, it's like that functions like a country song because the lyric has this really cool twist to it and the way that my favorite a lot of my favorite country songs due and it's kind of provocative. It almost reminds me of girl Crush a little bit, Like it has this it's just like you hear it, and you hear who's singing it, and you're like what, and then it makes this kind of cool left turn. And I just

love that. I just love that edgy, provocative thing and a great song, and and I thought it'd be fun to interpret it. But man, I've been listening to I was to a lot of cool stuff, or a lot of different stuff. Man um Hardy's record just came out. I've been listening to it, Jason Nisable's record that came out earlier this year. Reunion has been listening to it, listening to JP Sacks, been listening to Taylor Swift's record. Man,

that song, there's a song on that record. Heard the very first song on it, called the One that is just an absolute masterpiece of a song, and I just love it. And yeah, you know, I listened to Uh. I listen to a lot of soul music too, and I listen to some old country music a lot. You know, a lot of Randy Travis going on when I'm chilling, so um man, I cover. I cover all my bases when I'm listening to music because I'm passionate about it and I like all kinds. It's funny during the whole

lockdown time. I don't know if it's stress or what I've been like listening to stuff I haven't listened to since I was in high school. That's like musical comfort food in the way kind of hundred percent. Man takes you back to a place. You know, a lot of those records from the nineties that I love so much, like Jagged Little Pill, and and Cracked review and and a lot of those what's the story Morning Glory? That Oasis record? Man, I love all that stuff and revisit

it quite a bit, so I'm definitely right there with you. Man. There's the stuff that I just keep going back to because not only is it great, but it also there's a Lissen to Williams record Car Wheels on a Gravel Road that kind of changed my life, and Drive By Truckers. It's another band that that I I used to want to be before I found out that I wasn't. I didn't have the ethos to pull that kind of thing off. But man, I've been been visiting revisiting a lot of

music too. I know just what you mean. My my last question. I've been asking everybody this, and it's always so interesting to hear everybody's different answers. If you can stab your fingers and have this all be over, everything back to normal, you know, quarantine lockdown, the virus has gone, everything just right back to the way it was in.

What's the first thing you would do? Get on a tour bus with my band and crew and I drive to the first place that had a neon sign that looked like it needed a band, unload all of my gear, turned my amp up to eleven, and play all dawn night. That will be the first thing that I do. That's just what I'm looking the most forward to. Man, I really really miss it. I missed the guys, I missed the road, I missed the crowd, I missed new song.

I just miss it all, all of it. Right on, Matt Still, We're gonna get you back out there soon. Thank you so so much for your time today. It's been a pleasure great talking with you, Jordan. I appreciate it. Man. You'll just stay safe you as well. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio Home Edition, a production of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside the Studio and other shows from I heart Radio, check out the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

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