We recently connected with Matt Woods and have shared our conversation below.

Matt , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have been very fortunate to earn a living through my creative work, though sometimes the uncertainties can be stressful. I find that, as long as I am able to manage my expectations and responsibilities, it is more rewarding than stressful most of the time, though. Taking the leap initially was due to scheduling. In the early days of playing in and around the Knoxville area, there came a point where gig work was outnumbering the days I could work the restaurant job I had been working. So, I pulled the trigger. That was pretty early on and there since have been adjustments in the way I approach things as my work started to focus less on bar gigs and more on creating and releasing albums then touring to support them.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was a bit of a creative kid and would write songs even as a teenager then enrolled at the University of Tennessee in a writing program thinking maybe my direction would be more in the world of prose, In my senior year there, however, the door to pursuing music became more clear. I was watching bands and songwriters playing around town and started to understand that music could be a sustainable job and not only a creative hobby where I write songs in my apartment and strum guitar at parties. I started to book my own barroom gigs, often 4 hours a night back then, and eventually put together a rock and roll band which was a way for me to get some of the original music recorded and released. That band, Magpie Suite, ended up growing into a regional act and touring some around the Southeast, eventually dissolving and giving rise to the next band which expanded touring across the eastern US in support of a couple of albums.

All the while I still played the bar gigs around town when not on the road. In 2008, I started touring as a solo singer-songwriter. With the freedom to stay on the road as long as I liked having only my own schedule to consider, I started building national touring routes and growing and audience in towns across the country with my first studio solo album, The Matt Woods Manifesto, released in the spring of 2011. In the following years the road dates increased and the local bar gigs all but fell away. I was on the road full time. In 2015, I started bringing a band with me, Matt Woods and the Natural Disasters, about 50% of the time and even expanded our reach to Europe and the UK, until the Covid 19 pandemic brought the train to a halt in March of 2020. At this point, the touring is starting to come back a bit and plans for new releases are underway, though I have no specific timeline for that just yet. I can say I am excited with how things are shaping up, however.

Over the years and recalibrations, the thing that keeps me going and makes me most proud are the connections folks feel to the music. To know that something I made and brought to life with my pals can hold a place in someone’s heart or bring comfort to somebody is the real magic of the whole thing. It has led to a great many friendships and real human connections I imagine would have never happened otherwise.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

While music and art are clearly such an integral part of our society, I think it is often taken for granted, especially on the smaller and more independent levels. It is as though some folks simply expect there should be a soundtrack to their lives without their having to participate in the nurturing and sustaining of the community which provides it. This goes beyond streaming services paying laughable royalties while users give no thought to the folks creating their playlist tunes. It is the way we as a society devalue creativity from the underfunding of arts in school to the way performers are compensated for live appearances, For one example, $5 at the door to see live music in a small club was the going rate in the 1990s and you find that all too often still, though it seems to have gotten a slight bit better post-Covid.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

As for myself, the goal is, and has been, to simply share with folks my perception of the world through these songs. I hope it does bring some comfort along with entertainment. I like to have fun with the music and play the rowdy rock shows, as well. At the end of the day, however, it is the connection I hope to make. The songs would get written even if there was no one to hear them. The mission is to always find a way to share them with folks and hope they resonate.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.therealmattwoods.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/therealmattwoods
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/mattwoodsmusic
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/realmattwoods
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/therealmattwoods
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7FsRnvC6482sxDhq4DYpZi

Image Credits
Photo credits are in the file names except for the 2 album art photos which should be credited to Chad Cochran