We were lucky to catch up with Matt Kelley recently and have shared our conversation below.
Matt, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
I’m incredibly close with my parents and my two older brothers, and I truly believe that I could not have ended up with a better family. There are countless things that I feel my parents have done “right” in raising the three of us, but I am most thankful for their unconditional support of my decision to be an artist and their willingness to let me spread my wings and blossom into my own unique individual. I’m the only musician in my immediate family, and the small Georgia town that I grew up in didn’t have much of an artistic scene when I was growing up, so I think my parents were often perplexed by my lack of interest in activities that other boys my age typically gravitated towards. My dad coached baseball and football for 35 years, and both my brothers played sports all the way through high school, but I never had any interested in doing the same. I was always singing and playing piano, throwing concerts in my living room and jumping at the chance to audition for the elementary school play every year. When my parents finally got me involved in community theatre at age 10, all the pieces suddenly fell into place, and my parents’ eyes were opened to a whole new world of the arts. Since then, they have never tried to dissuade me from pursuing my artistic passions with every fiber of my being, because they have seen how much joy it brings me. They never batted an eye when I told them that I wanted to move to New York City to try and “make it” in the music industry, even though NYC is a completely different world from Cedartown, GA, and they have never tried to get me to have a “backup plan” (probably because they know I would immediately reject the thought). My mom loves to joke that she is my “manager,” and my dad cheers even louder at my shows than he did when the Braves won the World Series. Though my passions are completely different from theirs, they have displayed a willingness to not only understand them on a deeper level, but champion them wholeheartedly, and that is something I will ALWAYS be thankful for.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Since I can remember, I have wanted to be a performer. When I was asked as a child what I wanted to be when I grew up, I never gave the typical answers like “a fireman” or “an astronaut;” I always wanted to be onstage making people happy. I began cultivating this dream from an early age after realizing at around 3 or 4 that I could play piano by ear while picking out the melody to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” on my grandmother’s upright piano. I continued to hone my creative skillset as I grew older, from the 7 years of classical piano training during my teen years to the musical theatre degree I received from The University of Alabama in 2020, and this training allowed me to start working professionally in both the music and theatre industries on a consistent basis. During the pandemic, while most of the musical theatre business was on hold, I really threw myself into songwriting, having only briefly dabbled in it over the years. I fell in love with the creative freedom that writing music offered me, and while the world was shut down, I made the decision to pivot to music full-time. Though I do love musical theatre, I’ve always been more drawn to the music industry and songwriting, but never felt that I truly had the talent to pursue that path fully. Finding the confidence to chase that dream changed my life immensely, and I’ve never felt more secure in my career and sense of self.
I am a rock and roll artist, and I believe that my unique sound mixed with my dynamic onstage presence truly sets me apart from the current mainstream music scene. I’ve always been inspired by larger-than-life rock legends of a bygone era like Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Billy Joel, and Tina Turner, just to name a few. Over the years, I feel like the massive rock sound that used to be a staple of popular music has faded into nostalgia, and as an artist, I aim to bring those musical sensibilities back into the mainstream while still feeling fresh and current. I want to write music that feels timeless, and my goal is to bring people of all ages and ways of life together to enjoy the universal themes found in my songs. I am constantly worried about the division and hatred running rampant throughout our world, and I want listeners to feel like my music is a safe space to come together and celebrate the things that unite us, not divide us. I’m deeply proud of the work I have released thus far: my debut single, “me, unconditionally,” released in April, and my second song, “Trust Me (A Happy Song)” dropped at the end of July, both gaining tens of thousands of streams on Spotify in the short time that they have been available. I have received so much love from a wide variety of listeners, which reassures me that I am heading in the right direction with my music.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding part of my journey as an artist has been the response I have received from those who have emotionally resonated with my music. I’ve had people come up to me after my shows to tell me that certain songs of mine have made them cry, or that they can’t get a particular song out of their head, or that they know every single word to my songs because they listen to them nonstop. Since releasing my most recent single, “Trust Me (A Happy Song)” in July, I’ve even had multiple people tell me that they want me to play the song at their wedding, which absolutely blows my mind! As an artist, it’s truly surreal to know that the thing you created has found a home in other people’s hearts, and it’s so fulfilling because that is the whole reason we as artists create in the first place. While my art is a deeply personal reflection of myself, it is also meant to be shared and enjoyed by others, and I am happy beyond words that others connect with my music in the same way that I do.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I think the hardest thing I’ve had to unlearn (and that I’m honestly still working to unlearn) is that there is a “right” way to be an artist. I’m very proud of the training I’ve received over the years, as I firmly believe it has given me a foundation to not only work as an artist, but to sustain my craft for years to come. However, somewhere along the way I started viewing technique and theory as a set of rules I must follow in order to properly create, when in reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Technique is used to give artists a broader toolkit from which they can work, and they can use those tools to create whatever they want. While there are rules in the world of music theory, those rules are made to be broken, but there was a time where I had lost sight of that fact. As artists, we are meant to push the boundaries of what has already been done, and we use the tools and techniques taught to us to further expand and show the world what else is possible through the power of creation. Art is supposed to be fun, and if we allow ourselves to loosen up and just have a good time with the things we create, the technique and training will be there to support us and steer us in the right direction.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2uv7qLWXrGmi3MbhdC5pfD?si=L96hv-iRRCiNRwcZs_dd9Q
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattkelley_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattkelleymusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mattkelley_
- Other: Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/matt-kelley/1739668648
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattkelley_
Image Credits
Matt Lucerna, Camille Duvall, Maggie McCown