We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Matt Moody a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Matt thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
There’s a lot of layers to how I feel about this question. I have contradicting answers depending on the day you ask me, and what mood you catch me in. I primarily see myself as a songwriter, and it’s something I’ve been doing for over 15 years at this point. The process of songwriting, for me, is never necessarily a happy or joyous venture. Often, it is painstaking and drawn out; digging up the harshest truths you encounter in your life or society and transforming them into poetry. I didn’t really get into the craft of songwriting to experience joy and happiness. Rather, it’s been a way of processing for me. I know when I’m not writing, I feel out of whack emotionally and spiritually. It’s a necessity.
Certainly, there is joy and fulfillment found in performing live, and finishing projects; whether that’s just a song or an entire album. I wouldn’t trade this creative life for anything, but to say it has been a happy journey is quite contrary to the truth. There are days when it feels like I am crawling through the trenches. There are days when it feels like there is no hope of financial success or ease of effort and resources. There are days when I wake up and I literally just want to give it up and live a simple life in a quiet town. But regardless of all the adversity I encounter, I still wake up and it’s the first thing on my mind. Whether I chose the creative life initially or not, it continues to choose me everyday, no matter how I show up.
Turning 30 recently has really given a fresh perspective on all of it. It’s hard to see people your age buying homes, having kids, settling down, making steady livings. Those are things that appeal to me and would like to have some day, but I know while I’m still young and hungry I’ve got to chase after this dream I’ve envisioned for so long and have evolved with over time. Security and comfort are valuable but pursuing the path of true-self is priceless. At the very end when I’ve strummed my last chord, I’ll be able to say “I gave it everything I had”, no matter where that lands. Would I trade in all of my guitars for a salary and labyrinth of corporate appeasement? Absolutely not.
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 picked up the guitar at the age of 11. Fast forward to age 18 and I had been performing and recording in a rock band throughout high-school. I was faced with the decision of a traditional path at a 4-year college or accepting an offer from a music-manager and artist development specialist on Music Row in Nashville. I chose Nashville. From there I started performing, co-writing and recording all over town; earning my wings. Things fizzled out after about 5 years and I found myself in Cleveland, building, from ground-up, a band, a sound, and a style to find my place amongst the community there. It’s been nose to the grindstone ever since. Hours of writing, hours of recording, hours of performing and here I am today making the same rounds yet on a larger scale, all around the state of California.
I released an album last year titled “Still a Kid in a Painted Sky” which has been my largest to date and crafts my journey as an artist into a long form epic. Filled with love, loss, ego-death, hope, despair, victories and defeats it is my most authentic work to date, and something I’ll forever be proud of.
It always starts with a song for me. Something we’re starting to see less and less of (at least on the top 40), as music and the production of it continues to evolve, with a lot of emphasis and the sparkle and the sonic and seemingly not so much thought put into the lyrics, chord structure and story these days. My philosophy is if you can play a song on a single instrument with one vocal and can move the listener to feel something, you’ve got a good song. Otherwise, get back to the pen and paper. 95% of the songs I write are just me and an acoustic guitar; no computer, no production. That’s almost always an afterthought. I’m in it for the truth, not the youth. Some of my friends call me an old man, and I suppose I am in ways. It’s a badge I wear with honor, and a sarcastic smile. All that being said, come see me with my band and we’ll melt your face off: come see me as a solo act and I’ll make you think about your life.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I never fully realized it when I was younger and making records, performing, etc… but as soon as you make your work public, it’s no longer yours – it’s the listeners, it’s the audience members. Every time you get on a stage to perform in public, you’re given the opportunity to change someone’s life. Most recently, I played a long acoustic set in Solvang, CA at Lost Chord Guitars. One of the audience members came up to me during an intermission and poured his heart out, explaining how he recently became a father and how my music that night inspired him to pick up his guitar after years of not playing and teach it to his daughter.
It’s the inspiration we give to others along the way that in-turn fuels the process and the drive to keep creating. Knowing I have the ability to truly MOVE someone to want better for themselves and their loved ones is the most rewarding part of being an artist. Every time I get on stage these days, that’s the thing I’m truly after. I ask myself “can I pour everything I have into this performance in order to change someone’s life tonight?”. The more I remove my own ego and my own selfish wants, the better the show, the more present I am with the music and the audience. If you leave the stage wondering what you could’ve done more of, odds are, the audience members are wondering the same thing. Or worse, they’re not wondering about anything at all. Getting off stage, pouring sweat, heart-full – that’s the best feeling.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Countless. Ken Burns’ “Country Music” documentary. All 16-hours of it. I’m hardly country, but learning the history and rich lineage that country music comes from has filled me to the brim with inspiration and ideas to meld into my music and career path.
Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way” was a serious check-up on my day to day life as an artist, and a foundation for what it means to have a healthy relationship to your art and spirituality.
For whatever reason I gravitate towards darker literature and poetry; novels and poems from anti-hero types, people on the fringe of society. Charles Bukowski, John Fante, William Burroughs, Ayn Rand, Jack Kerouac, Aldous Huxley, etc… they all play a big part in my philosophy on songwriting and approach towards my craft.
As for business and entrepreneurship, Donald Passman’s “All You Need To Know About The Music Business” is essentially the industry bible. If you’re making music in any way shape or form, buy it. Read it front to back two or three times. Refer back to it whenever you’re stumped on something or don’t know the legal processes. Too many times, and I’ve experienced it first hand as well as seen peers struggle with it; artists get taken advantage of in the music industry simply because they’re unknowledgeable about the inner workings of it. Applied knowledge is power. Take the power into your own hands. You will become a force to be reckoned with.
The last thing I’ll leave you with is less tangible and more a philosophy. “Grace”. Some call it luck, others call it timing. It’s been a struggle to cultivate for me at times. It’s easy let to frustration and a jaded perspective build up over time, in-turn spilling over into your business and craft, but acting with grace will save you a lot of hearth-ache and head-ache in the long run. Be kind, listen well, smile, be present, be grateful and everything will happen in a much easier fashion for you. People like to work with people they like. Grace is the key ingredient.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mattismoody.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattismoody/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjBy8VhSvEKZlFBsJcQVF7w
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5FbidMA4DaaS1qrXJ67pdE?si=FNwGGDPsRSq-iwmK6_xWFQ
Image Credits
Photos by Nina Ripich.