Daring to Suck: A Grace Askew Podcast
Host Grace Askew dives into the life of a veteran artist. Her 15+ years of living and breathing music have left her with plenty triumphs and disasters and lessons (mostly learned the hard way) to share for all levels of creatives. From the songwriting process, to life on the road, to stories-behind-the songs, to interviews with fellow creatives on their own journey to finishing (or not finishing) songs, "Daring to Suck" is a place for musicians/artists to glean some guidance for their own path.
Daring to Suck: A Grace Askew Podcast
Songs, Stages, and Social Media: Matt Jordan's Artistic Voyage
Have you ever wondered about the journey of an artist from picking up their first instrument to performing on the big stage? Join us as we navigate the musical trail with independent artist, Matt Jordan, who shares his intimate narrative from his teenage years with a guitar to his transformative journey to Nashville. Matt's captivating story is a beacon of commitment to his craft, filled with hurdles he's hurdled and the precious guidance he received from his father, steering him towards the music hub, Nashville.
The role of parenthood has been a significant influence on Matt's creativity. As a dedicated father and artist, he unveils his strategies to overcome creative blocks and the cruciality of taking a step back from his craft to make room for fresh inspiration. His relentless pursuit of his dreams and refusal to accept mediocrity, all while setting an exemplary standard for his children, provides a treasure trove of wisdom for those cruising through their own creative journey.
In the digital age, social media plays a crucial role in the music industry. Matt shares his unique insights on navigating this online landscape as an independent artist. His journey offers a fresh perspective on the importance of authenticity and staying true to one's creative vision in the constantly evolving music scene. Whether you're an aspiring songwriter, an independent artist, or a music aficionado, this episode is packed with relatable anecdotes and precious advice from a seasoned musician. So tune in and let Matt Jordan's musical journey enlighten your artistic path.
Outside of these inspiring interviews, Grace offers further artistic growth opportunities through semi-annual songwriting retreats held in Memphis, TN and 1:1 Zoom coaching! All details can be found at her website: GraceAskew.com
All right, y'all, welcome back to season two of Daring to Suck, and this is officially episode six of the season, and I have none other than Matt Jordan with me for this particular episode. How you doing, matt.
Speaker 2:Good, how are?
Speaker 1:you doing. I'm good, I'm pumped to get to know you a little bit more. So Matt and I have only written once so far and I hope that continues in Nashville, and I knew after getting to know him in that short amount of time that he's going to have an interesting story for the show and I want to just have this luxury of just picking your brain and getting to know your creative process and how you work and what got you to where you are.
Speaker 2:So I kind of Well, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely, and the whole theme of this season has become the road to Nashville. Basically, I really am curious to know, because most of people, most of the people in Nashville are not from Nashville right. Like they're, they travel to work there. So I would love for listeners to hear your particular story of how you got to Nashville. What did that look like for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a long, winding road. I mean, I started writing songs and if you can't see me, I'm doing air quotes around that because I'm counting songwriting but I picked up guitar when I was a young kid and kind of didn't take it seriously until I was about 16 or 17. And I'm the youngest of three in my family and both my brother and sister had gone off to college and they were my best friends, so I had a lot of time on my hands. I figured I'd start playing guitar to kill time and that's kind of what I started writing. And you know I didn't think a whole lot of it when I first started. It was honestly just something to do, just kind of something to pass the time. And I started college in Indianapolis Butler University and I really started to enjoy writing and so I started doing it more and more than and halfway through college and I loved it there. I loved Butler Like it was such a great school.
Speaker 1:I had so many great friends, Great things for sure. I remember things in our high school.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was awesome. And halfway through my sophomore year so at Christmas break my dad had kind of seen me, you know, fall in love with writing and doing it in Indianapolis and all that, and he kind of put a bug in my ear and he's like you know, I think you might want to transfer down to Nashville, because if you don't do it during college, I don't think you're going to do it. Yeah, it's large. Yeah, it was really good advice and I was really fortunate that I had someone like that encourage something like music, you know, because a lot of parents don't. And so I transferred to Belmont and finished school there and Belmont was also great. I was really there to be in Nashville, though not to be at Belmont. You know, I studied business. I really it was just a way to get to Nashville and still get a degree and things like that.
Speaker 1:You just got a music business or just business.
Speaker 2:Just entrepreneurship, just in the business school.
Speaker 1:That's smart.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think it ended up being really good. I think at the time I had some probably insecurity around being in Nashville because I didn't belong there. Yet I still don't know if I belong there.
Speaker 1:It's an intimidating town I will vouch for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And so I think that going into business, I kind of felt like this this is a world I can exist in and, you know, not be public about the fact that I'm here from music, because that was intimidated and obviously I'd have regrets about that, I wish I'd been more full and involved in the music scene and things like that. But yeah, that's how I got there, spent a couple years there, graduated from Belmont, got married while we lived in Nashville, spent about another year there after we got married and my wife and I moved home to St Louis and now I go back and forth. I'm in Nashville about a week a month typically these days, sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on show schedules and things like that, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great Good for you. Are you booking these yourself through solely having networked and met people through college? I'm sure, but or do you have like an agent or liaison typically?
Speaker 2:No, it's all, it's all on me. I work with a great publicist who's based in Nashville and she's been really helpful in like setting up some meetings and things like that. But as far as you know, booking stuff, rights and shows and all that, it kind of all falls on me right now.
Speaker 1:I can't preach the you know the goodness of just being an independent artist enough. Honestly, I have been very anti record label up to now. Honestly, I'm getting to a turning point where I'm open minded to being, you know, on the team of being signed. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But I admire that you've been independent for so long and just you know your work ethic has to be strong to be your own boss.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I appreciate that. You know my my being independent is not necessarily a conscious decision I make. You know there is and I'm with you on that. I tell people all the time like if I can keep doing things the way I do them, I would sign a record deal if they presented something that allowed me to keep doing what I'm doing. My fear with it's always been because you hear the horror stories. I know not all labels are the same, but you hear the horror stories about someone was building something. Then they got signed and they didn't conform with the label wanted or whatever. They didn't have a quick enough and they got shelves and that terrifies me.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Because right now in in year, in the same boat, grace, like you, we can release music when we want, and that's a beautiful thing. It's why I got into this is for the music.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The label has always been. Is that going to change? Is it going to change my creative process and what I'm allowed to do and say as an artist? You know, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I, you know, I mean slowly at this point where I've got an interest, a guy who's interested in being my manager, and that's another scary step, you know, because at that point everything you do they take a cut. Yeah, that's a scary thing to think about and that's advice I've gotten recently is just go where you are wanted, because I've had this temptation to kind of conform to the formulaic country music scene of Nashville and kind of play their game, played by the rules, so then I can break them in the future, basically. But at the end of the day, like I'm an Americana artist and you are certainly have that amazing rootsy sound to your voice and to your songwriting style that I love. So, yeah, if you, if you want to touch on that, just the country music scene in Nashville, what are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's. It's hard because it's a business and we all understand it's a business. And I think what happens a lot of times?
Speaker 2:I think labels and and I think labels are an industry folks get kind of a bad reputation for, you know, changing everyone or whatever. But they're, they're good, they're good taste makers, they know what they're doing, you know, and they kind of know what the radio wants and what fans want and things like that. And so I understand why it happens that way. But my thing with it has always been if a label is taking interest in me or a manager is taking interest in me, it's because I'm doing something that works, and so why would the first thing we do be to change that? You know, like, yeah, if someone at a management company or record label is is seeing what I do and say, hey, we want to work together or talk about working together, it's because something is is working right, you know they believe in you yeah, because they believe in me, or or they see that they could make a lot of money at it.
Speaker 2:Either way, I would say yeah, you know. Yeah, but I think you hit on something really important there. My thing with you know, building out my team, as I when I hired my publicist, and as I've talked to labels and management companies and things like that for me it always comes back to, you've got to be all in, you got to believe in what I'm doing. I've had plenty of meetings where it's very obvious that that's not the case. You know, hey, can we blow your tic-tac up and make some money and then, and that's it. They don't even talk about the music and I'm like that's not the people I want on my team. I want me on their team either. So you know it works out.
Speaker 1:I love that example too. I've had a recent meeting where they asked so who are you? After sending them like a drop-drop box folder full of my music that they had Apparently been listening to. But he still had to ask the question so who are you? And the music should speak for itself.
Speaker 1:Typically, you know, if they're in it, if they believe in the soul of what you are doing, which is like the bottom line goal with anyone you end up working with and having on your team, then you you've hit the golden ticket, you know, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:I just think that anyone on your team they've got to be all in they have to Maybe not have the same vision that you have, because it's kind of our job to steer the ship right. They have to at least be able to see the vision and latch on to it and say I want to go where you're going, take me with you, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I would love to know what is your kind of deeper, why, when maybe we, even when you first got started writing songs, you kind of touched on that your siblings had left the house. But, like when you're creating a song, what is your innermost deep? Why, when you're creating?
Speaker 2:This sounds like so hippy, but it's. It's really therapeutic for me. I'm like there's something about songwriting where I'm willing and able to spill my heart in a way that I won't outside of a songwriting room. You know, I sing a lot of things that I would never say and I don't know why. That is Just wired that way. I'm kind of an introverted guy, kind of private, and keep to myself, but I'm able to share things that I want to get off my chest and things like that and music. And you know, early on I was kind of figuring out how to actually write halfway decent songs and things like that. I Would put some of my more personal stuff out there, just because it was what I had, and I started getting people responding saying, hey, that song really helped me through this or that, and I Kind of realized like man, there's, I'm not the only one that feels this way, you know, like if there's something that I feel that I want to put in a song, I'm not the only person in the world that feels that way.
Speaker 1:And even if I can reach just one person with a song and it can help them kind of go, you know, get through something they've been struggling with or, you know, relate to it and put their own story in it, then that's why I do it, you know, and it's a, it's a really fulfilling thing to do that and be able to Write someone else's story when you're just trying to write your own, you know yeah, I love that, that's a good way to put it, and we and it seems like Taking risks is part of the artist job description as well that most human beings are willing to take right like sharing something that you've created is a scary thing, and Putting up your music videos all the time and your new music coming out, which is a scary thing to do, but it's kind of just like you have to accept that's part of the artist job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that self-promotion piece is. It's really scary because you know you get I mean you get good responses for sure, but you also get negative responses and and you don't know what people are saying behind closed doors. And you, you know you think about that kind of stuff and at least I do. It's some weird insecurity I think I've always had in that.
Speaker 1:I think that's very common.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but but you got to do it. You know it's, it's, it's just part of the game. And and again, it's like you kind of have to deal with the nose and the discouragement to reach those people that that need to hear what you're, what you have to say, you know yeah, there isn't a niche for everybody, and they're out there, they just.
Speaker 1:They just haven't found you yet, you know, so just keep creating.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's the goal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'd love to hear about when, if you feel creatively blocked I'm not gonna say when, I'm not gonna assume, but if you feel creatively blocked, what are your? What are you kind of what's in your toolbox for that?
Speaker 2:No, you can assume that that's I mean. For me it's just the practice of still doing it even when I feel like nothing's coming. You know, and sometimes that means changing up my typical process, like you know. Usually I sit down at my computer here, I have a MIDI keyboard in front of me and I have logic up on my computer and I'll build drum tracks and keys tracks and start playing guitars Over up and things like that, and that's how most of my songs, you know, start. A lot of times I kind of write to a track. Lately it used to be just acoustic guitars and lately I've just found more creative Freedom and Something more with a little bit more structure. Yeah, so that's kind of my typical process.
Speaker 2:But when I hit a block and I always do, you know I go through these seasons of just drought where nothing's coming, you know. Then I usually come out of them and it's a really fruitful season, you know, and I'll write three or four songs that I think are great in a week or two. And but in those kind of down moments, those down uninspired seasons, my first step is always just to change my process, like get away from the computer and grab acoustic or go to a piano or grab a baritone guitar or Sit on my electric guitar which I don't often do, you know and just try something different. I read more when I'm, when I'm feeling uninspired, I'll go pick up like a Jack Kerouac book or something Just how a great writer does it. Or I'll print off Bruce Springsteen lyrics and Just to kind of find that magic again and remember kind of why I started. And sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't. It's just it's all for nothing. But it is a part of the process of trying to break out of those creatively uninspired seasons.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's a really good point to make about. It's kind of like a form of cross-training. Almost when you're reading a book or maybe you're dipping into another creative medium altogether, it kind of can re-inspire you and reinvigorate you in a way you didn't expect like even, like you said, picking up a different instrument I thought helps me so much, like getting into Ableton, push pad, electronic music, and stepping away from Americana, I'm like that really reinvigorates me. And putting down songwriting, which I've never really been a fan of doing it, but lately I've been just not writing songs and experimenting with coming back to it and seeing how much stronger I feel about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's. You know, that's a really important piece of it too, like putting something down and Saying I need to come back to this later. And what that does is, first of all, it Answers the question of if you actually believe in this thing you're doing or not. You know, like this Cuz I'll start a song all back, this is the best thing I've ever written. The next morning I'll come back, I'll back. That was trash.
Speaker 2:I don't know what I was thinking about yesterday when I put that down on paper. But you know, I think I've gotten more comfortable with leaving something unfinished for a season if it needs to be unfinished, and Often that's what I'll come back to. When I'm feeling Nothing new is happening, I can't get anything to go. I'll come back to something older that already maybe has some structure and, like, I already have a verse chorus here. If I can just write a verse, I can convince myself I'm still a songwriter, you know. And and sometimes just convincing yourself that you still got it somehow, you know, even if it's not great, or a song that you would put out Just to convince yourself and remind yourself that you do have this in you and you're you're able to do it, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Absolutely. And I know that you are also a parent, so you've got. How old is your oldest one? Six six, and then I know your youngest two or my kids ages the three and one. Is that right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my middle just turned four, so it's 64.
Speaker 1:Okay, so very close to mine, and I would love to hear your thoughts because I feel like parenthood was scary, because I thought it would take away so much from my creative process. From my perspective, I feel like I'm more intentional with my free time than I ever was, because you cannot Luxuriate and your free time anymore it is completely taken away and you, you appreciate it when it comes.
Speaker 2:That is exactly it and I've told so many people that exact thing that you know. I had the same fear. I thought, you know, when I have kids, I can't do this anymore, I'm not gonna have time for it Whatever and my wife is super supportive, so she gets the credit for this. But you know when, when we had kids, what actually happened was it really focused my time because, you're right before before kids, jen and I are both independent. I mean, we love each other very much, we love spending time together. But like she would go do her thing, I would work in the office, I would just kind of do our own things for for a lot of the day, and when work was over, I'd go write songs and do that, and when I and there was kind of unlimited time to do it, and when kids came, it was like Now, from the time I get off work and the time they go to bed, I am on, I'm a hundred percent dad and 100% husband and I'm not a musician in that in that time, and so it really focused the hours that I did get to put into music, which made me super productive.
Speaker 2:I had to be really intentional about my time. I couldn't just sit around and poke around on the guitar until something came like. I had to be really intentional. If I was riding or if I was Booking shows, I had to have a plan in place to here's who we're reaching out to today, and things like that, you know. So, yeah, it took some of my time, I suppose, but it certainly made up for it, and how, how it focused my time as well, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and it's it's nice to have. Like I have a very supportive spouse as well, Thankfully. And it's like you. You have to be all in Once you have kids with your career if you're gonna be a true like, if you're gonna go all in on your music career. It kind of can't be like, at least to me. This is just my. I don't know, I'm taught. A lot of people may disagree with me that are listening this, but like it's like you're either a parent or you're all in on your career and if you're going to try to do both, you better be serious about it. At least I don't. That may rub some people the wrong way, but no, it's really true.
Speaker 2:That's I think it's really true. I think that you have to be able to to draw the line between, you know, family and work, and that's true for any career, though, and I think, for some reason, you know, music or creative ventures get a bad rap for that, where it's like, oh, they're abandoning their family or whatever. It's like I, when I was selling software, I traveled almost near you know, almost as much as I do now. It was just I was going to business conferences instead of shows, you know, and yeah, you just kind of have to figure out a way to be present in both, fully present in both worlds, and and it's like those trips we do to Nashville.
Speaker 1:I'm going once a week and it's like it's time away from my kids, time away that that can be spent just making memories with them. So if I'm going to go, it better be for a very intentional, very purposeful reason and I don't both those those shitty dive bar gigs anymore because those aren't going to get me to the next step in my career. I only very cautiously pick the career. You know the pivots that are really meaningful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I mean that's a really, that's a really important point too. Like, um, you know something that I've I've talked about with my team lately and when I say team, I mean band and publicist and things like that but knowing what to say no to like, we only say yes to things that are going to move the needle.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Sometimes that is putting money in the pocket and so it's more of a two hour background music thing. You know where it's like. I know we're not going to win any fans tonight, but you know I can, I can put some.
Speaker 1:It's a place too. I'm to. Yeah, I agree, I agree they do, but it's, it's.
Speaker 2:We're not doing the four hour cover.
Speaker 1:No, anything anymore, or like that 11 o'clock start time yeah.
Speaker 2:Who's who's paying attention, who's even sober enough to know what I'm saying, by, you know, midnight in the bar, you know, um, so it's, I think a lot of it is. You know, we talked about kind of focusing the time. It also focuses opportunities, like I don't say yes to everything anymore just cause I can, like my publicist will send in hey, there's an interview that wants, you know, blah, blah, blah, and it's like if, if it, if it isn't going to move the needle, I'm probably not going to commit to it. You know, and that goes for shows and it goes for writing sessions. You know, if it's someone who I don't really believe in as a writer, I don't see the the fit there. I'm probably not going to take the right. You know, if the show isn't going to move the needle and put some money in our pocket or fans in our camp, then I'm probably not going to take the show. You know, um, and, and I think I used to say yes to a lot more before kids, but you're right, yeah.
Speaker 1:It makes you so much more. It just I feel like I'm working smarter instead of just harder, because I would just look gigs in and you know, I was constantly touring, you know, and it's like a lot of those years I think I took some gigs that I just took because it kept me busy, which is good.
Speaker 1:Like I, I was never the kind of artist that and I'm sure you relate to this where I didn't want to go straight to Nashville, um and straight to the writing rooms Like I wanted to earn my street cred and tour the country for many years before I ever took this Nashville step. And so, um, you know that that that meant a lot of years just being living on my own terms and not really having time for relationships or being thinking about marriage or kids.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I mean, and there's, there's benefit in that too. Like you're, you get your chops in that setting. You know like you're great on stage now because you spent all those years doing that and learning how to engage the crowd and learning what songs work in a live setting and things like that. So there is it's not all you know for nothing, but when, when you do have a family and you are, you know more serious about your career and really taking it to the next level, um, yeah, you got to focus, got to really focus what, what you're going to take and where you're going to spend your time, cause there there's a lot of things that seem like they could be good opportunities are worth doing and and they're just not, you know absolutely Well.
Speaker 1:you seem like you have definitely earned your chops, just just from your Instagram posts. I've never seen you live, but you seem like an amazing presence on stage. Um, maybe you can describe what it feels like when you're performing your music. Do you kind of step into a different persona, or what does that hold experience like for you?
Speaker 2:I think to some extent. I mean, you know, you hear some like Some people talk about how it's like an alter you get when they're on stage and I don't, I don't feel that way. It just feels like this sounds like cheesy. It just feels like where I belong, like it's where I'm the most comfortable, like I'm really bad in social settings, like I hate going to weddings and parties and all, like I hate In front of people in that way. You know, yes, on stage, for some reason, it's just. It feels natural. I don't get nervous anymore. I'm. I did, for, you know, early on, when I was starting, I used to get nervous to sing in front of people. I also wasn't confident back then and what I was doing. So that's, you know, confidence is a huge, huge part of it. Yeah, it just feels natural and I think, you know, when I moved to Nashville, my plan was to be a songwriter for other people. I had no interest. Yeah, I Couldn't sing, and so it was. That was never even a thought, you know.
Speaker 1:Dang y'all, you gotta look. I mean, hopefully everyone will start following your music after this, because your voice is amazing.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you, it was, it was not, you know, seven or eight years ago. And what happened was I started writing these songs and writing with people and going and playing writers rounds and stuff and I Just kind of realized like I really like to be the one to sing my songs and so I started taking voice lessons and Took it, started taking that part of my craft really seriously. And you know, I still will write with people, you know, with the idea of pitching to someone else, you know, now and then. But the artist thing is definitely the focus for me anymore and it's what I love, because I just I love being on stage, you know yeah, yeah, I'm late to that, for sure.
Speaker 1:I ask every guest this question just because it's typically a very juicy answer. But have you ever wanted to quit and if so, what kept you going? I?
Speaker 2:Have never wanted to quit. I have flirted with quitting a lot Because it didn't feel worth it anymore. You know.
Speaker 1:What was that specific season of your life looking like?
Speaker 2:right after our first kid was born, I was. I was working in software sales selling cybersecurity and data privacy software, which was just draining for me. You know, I am a big believer that we are each created to do something specific and I was not created to do software. I don't know if I was created to do music, but certainly feels better than software, but it was just draining ends. When our daughter was born, I was working, you know, full 45, 50 hours on software sales and traveling for work, and we have this new baby and we didn't know what we were doing with a baby or how to take care of her or anything like that.
Speaker 2:And you know, music was so passive at the time, it was such a hobby. I would often tell Jenna, like why am I even putting any money into this? Or any time, like nothing's happening, it's not gonna happen, it's not gonna happen, it's only gonna get harder from here, with, you know, annie growing up and having more kids and all that. So I, I seriously flirted with the idea of quitting multiple times and Jenna was always the one who was like no, keep, keep going, like this won't be forever, you know, it's just a season. And she has, you know, done a really good job of living that out, where she's not just said she's supportive, she says, hey, you got to go do her own shows, go do her own shows. I got the kids don't worry about us FaceTime at night say hi, we're good, you know, and that's been, that's been huge to keep me going and at this point I don't, I don't think about quitting anymore.
Speaker 1:But a couple years back I did often, you know yeah, and now that you have three kids it's like like like we were talking about, I mean it's. I feel like it's almost fuel for the fire in a way, because you want to see them, I want my kids to see me going after my dreams. You know, I don't want to be Just that, like you were saying, kind of passive with anything that I do in my life, you know.
Speaker 2:The, the status quo and complacency scare me to death.
Speaker 2:Placency is my greatest fear because I see it happen so often when these people who I knew when I was younger had these big dreams and these big plans and they just fall into what everyone else does.
Speaker 2:And I get it when sometimes push comes to shove and you have to do that Like it's. It's not a personal attack on anyone, but I do think there are people who Just kind of give up on on what they really wanted and what they believe they were created for, because it's too hard or people think it's weird or whatever, and I Don't want my kids to see that in me. I want them to see like hey, dad says we can chase our dreams and he's living that out like we're gonna. You know, I'm gonna lead by example, not just telling them to do it, you know, and I was fortunate that my dad was really supportive of it when I was growing up and I intend to be the same for my kids, you know. But it's a really, it's a really beautiful thing to make them a part of it too, like yes they know what I do during the day when we play shows in st Louis.
Speaker 2:If they're able to come, they come and you know We'll play some like you know, kind of like community fairs and things like that. You know, locally we do a lot more of that than we do on the road, but like they'll come out and they'll be in the front dancing and all that stuff and it's like those are the Sweetest moments for me as a dad, because they're they're seeing that this is normal and what we do is not normal, but in their eyes it is because I've made it the normal thing for him.
Speaker 2:And you know my daughter, she's only six, so who knows what she's gonna do right now. She wants to be a dancer and I'm like I'll be a dancer, like Maybe, dancer, go be a dancer. You know, I'll support you all the way there, you know yeah yeah, they I've heard that saying where it's like talent is overrated.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes it's really the people that just never quit that, and I think you're on your way. I mean, you have the talent and you obviously have the drive. So Us me and my listeners are only expecting amazing things from you. So Tell us about your tour dates and where we can find you.
Speaker 2:Online you can find me Instagram, tiktok. Technically I'm over there at Matt Jordan music. I Mean it's nothing to write home about, but I do have a tick. Facebook, of course, matt Jordan songwriter comm is my website. You can find show dates and music there. And then we got a couple things coming up. We're in Marion, illinois, on July 27th with Granger Smith, so just a couple days here.
Speaker 2:Awesome and we got some St Louis stuff in August, got some Columbia, missouri stuff in August, likely Chicago and Peoria, illinois, doing a lot of stuff in the Midwest. I can't remember all our dates right now but you know the Midwest has kind of been been my focus since since moving home. It's been a really great thing. So we're getting to play around in the Midwest quite a bit, which has been really fun.
Speaker 1:Very cool. And then, what about music wise, what are you dropping? I think didn't you just drop a new single? Is that right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, this single came out about two and a half weeks ago, Three weeks ago maybe. I'm kind of on a five-week cycle here. Yeah, I'll put it up every about every five weeks and and we got a full project coming down the road a bit. Yeah, I try to keep something in the in the queue all the time loaded up and ready to, ready to release, which is really fun and tiring, but it's, it's exciting that have music always ready to go, you know yeah, that's an awesome feeling for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I guess I just have one more question and thank you again for your time. I know my listeners are going to get a lot of inspiration from your episode. I I was just gonna. I wanna know your thoughts on being an artist and tackling social media like the kind of and you kind of mentioned it in a meeting you have where they wanted to know just about TikTok and all that. But I'm a big fan of, like Cal Newport. If you haven't heard of him, he's wrote the deep work and digital minimalism and kind of stepping away from social media in order to do those truly great creative pieces that you want to do. What is your take on social media?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't love it. It's hard, though, because this feels like an industry where I don't know exactly what that looks like to get rid of social media. You know, and you see guys like Koltarwall and Tyler Childers, and there are people who don't really use social media and they're wildly successful, yeah, but for every one of them, there's a thousand who wouldn't have made it where they made it without social media, you know. And so, as much as I hate it and think it's not good for our society on the whole and hope my kids stay off of it forever, I don't know how I could get rid of it right now.
Speaker 2:You know, like I'm pretty active on Instagram and Facebook and stuff, and you know all the messages, the encouraging messages and the people sharing their stories of how my songs related to them and things like that. Those all come through social media, and I don't know exactly how to reach those people without it. You know we can go play shows and we win people at shows, for sure, but I need to sell tickets and have people listening to my songs when they come out, and a lot of that comes through social media. So I use it in such a way where it is just a business tool. I go on and I, you know, upload what I need to upload and I interact with who I need to interact with and then I get off. I don't do a lot of scrolling. It's not good for me, it's not good for anyone, but I don't. I love the idea of getting off social media and I just don't know how to reconcile that with my goals right now you know, I hate that.
Speaker 1:we have to feel that way, you know, because I want to get off it. I really want to get off social media, but it's like I want to promote you in this episode, you know, and it's like how, where else are people? Like we're day traders, you know, through Instagram, but where else can we do that?
Speaker 2:And that's the hardest thing I mean, especially as an independent artist. It's like there's no, there's no other channels happening for me. No one else is making it go for me. You know it's all on me. And if my only, you know, ways of really getting in front of people are Spotify and live shows, that doesn't feel like great odds. I don't have a whole lot of control over those, you know. So social media is something I can control, at least to some extent. I can work it and you know I was in sales before I went full-time music for many years and I just see it as another form of sales. It's just part of the job. It's not it's not my favorite part of the job, but I have to bring fans in somehow, you know. Yeah, I mean it is a shame that it is such a well, it is a shame that we can't really do this without it. But also before social media, there really weren't independent artists, you know, who were making careers out of it. So it's kind of got a, you know.
Speaker 1:It's a good point.
Speaker 2:Like your poison there, like would we even be able to do this if we didn't have social media? You know?
Speaker 1:It's a really good point yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't know if we could, I mean probably.
Speaker 1:I don't mean to be so negative about it, but I am very grateful that we live in this day and age where we can find our niche and people who get you know exactly what kind of music we're making and they can. We can find that true 1000 fans, which some guy says is like all you need, yep. But you know, I just feel like the scrolling is where it becomes a problem. You know, it's just, it's so addictive yeah.
Speaker 2:It's so interesting Like you never ever hear people be like God. Social media is so good Like nobody. Nobody just loves social media. Like everybody knows it's bad for our society and bad for our brains and our family and stuff, but like we're all on it anyway. You know it's like, so I just try to use it and I try to make it positive and use it for good and avoid the bad as much as I can and also just realize that we live in a broken, fallen world and I'm going to see bad no matter if I'm on social media. You know what I guess?
Speaker 1:Amen, brother, you're preaching Well, I like to end it on a bit of more of a positive note. Just do you have any piece of advice that you've gleaned from your many years of doing music that you could give our up and coming songwriters that are maybe listening to this podcast?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think my go to piece of advice on that kind of thing is always just stay true to who you are. And that means you know morally and the way you're brought up and stuff like that, but artistically too. Like you see in Nashville there's so many people chasing what Luke Combs is doing and Morgan Wallin is doing, or Bailey Zimmerman is someone who's hot, and I just you never see those people last. You know like the ones who last are always the ones who kind of did it their way and did their own thing. You know Eric Church and you know Kip Moore. Like Kip Moore is one of my go to examples on that because he's one of my big writing influences. But what you know I've seen with him is like he had a couple hits early in his career and he hasn't had a whole lot of radio success since.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:He's on the road selling out 3000 person theaters and stuff. Yeah, there's not a lot of people doing that without radio success today. And I think the reason he's been able to do it is because he just he knows what he does and he does it really well and he doesn't try to conform to something else. And Eric Church is that way and Morgan Wallin is that way, right, like all these guys who have blown up, it's because they started doing something different and they were themselves, and then everyone kind of chases it. So my thing is always don't chase it, because once you start chasing it, you're already behind. You don't want to start behind. You know, figure out what you do better than anyone else and go do it a lot and you're better at it, you know.
Speaker 1:Great, yeah, everyone else is already taken yeah.
Speaker 2:What kind of like. That's not the life you want anyway. You don't want to turn into effectively an impersonator and end up doing that, because that's what you get bucketed, as you know.
Speaker 1:It's so true. Well, I have to book you and I with Adam Browder. He's actually. He was on the episode two of this season. It's Kip Morris, guitarist. Oh yeah. He's come back to write in Nashville and we've written once together. But us three, we should definitely do the right. He's fantastic.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, we played a show with Kip last summer and I'd seen him, you know, a lot of times in concerts. I knew who Adam was, but I got to meet him very briefly last summer and have band was just great. I mean, they're, they rip and Adam Adam rips. I know he's not playing with them anymore, but it was fun to get to see them side stage do what they do, you know.
Speaker 1:High energy? Sure, yeah, thank you again for your time and sharing your wisdom and your stories with us. We really appreciate it and I can't wait to launch your episode.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you so much for having me. It was it was a good time talking to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right. Well, how about you soon for some writing days?
Speaker 2:Sounds good. Looking forward to it.
Speaker 1:All right, bye.
