With great vocals and honest lyrics, Matt Stell has quickly made his mark on the country music scene.

Amassing more than half a billion music streams across his catalogue, including back-to-back No. 1s 'Prayed For You', which is approaching 2x Platinum status, and 'Everywhere But On', along with fan favourites 'Boyfriend Season' and 'That Ain’t Me No More'. He has since made his Grand Ole Opry debut and performed on Good Morning America, The Kelly Clarkson Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s #LateShowMeMusic digital series, Bachelor In Paradise and sung the national anthem for NASCAR and NFL events.

Soon to embark on a UK tour this October, Andrew Gilmour (Giz) from Music Talkers caught up with Matt Stell via Zoom to ask some further questions about him as an artist. You can also listen to the interview at the button of this page, or on Youtube here.

Giz: Where are you at the moment?

Matt: I’m in Nashville right now at my house.

Giz: It’s not a bad place to live, considering the music you play.

Matt: Absolutely, man. Yeah, it’s a great place to live for sure.

Giz: We’re really happy to be speaking with you. Andrew the CEO of Music Talkers thinks you’re absolutely brilliant, he watched you at C2C in March, actually, because he had to review it. It’s nice to have you on, and thanks for joining us.

Matt: My pleasure, man.

Giz: In terms of your musical life and your musical career, what age did you start writing music?

Matt: I really started kinda playing and writing, I would have been about 21. I started in college kinda late, but once I learned to play a little bit, write a little, It’s all I wanted to do, so I dove in head first.

Giz: Did you start playing guitar first?

Matt: I was playing basketball at the time. So, you’re on campus the whole winter break, you don’t get to go home for, y'know, Christmas really. So, it’s a lot of killing time when you’re not in practice, and that’s where I learnt to play the guitar, just sitting in front of a computer like this. As soon as I could play a little bit I started to try and write songs. I just kinda stuck with it man, I always had a passion for songs and I love it, it’s just kinda morphed into what I get to do on a day to day basis.

Giz: Which is a great feeling I’m sure.

Giz: What about influences? Because I was looking before and I listened to your music, and when I interview some people, they are influenced by artists within the same genre that they write, and some just aren’t at all. What about you?

Matt: Yeah man, I grew up on all kinds of different stuff. I mean, country music was kinda the default setting, but I really loved alternative music in the 90’s. I grew up on a lot of that, y'know I grew up on rap music playing basketball. I Like Americana, that’s kinda what I like to listen to, sort of recreationally listening to that side of country music. I like getting on my New Music Friday or whatever and just listening to new stuff, whether it’s pop, rock or country. My thing with influences is, I don’t try to overtly try to sound like somebody you like. You do it long enough - you figure out who you are, and who you like are not necessarily the same thing. There's a little bit that might wear off on you, but for me a big thing was kinda learning who I am and who I like are different, and that’s OK, that’s good.

Giz: I always ask people this, I find it very interesting in regards to what you just said there. If you could collaborate with absolutely any artist, dead or alive, who would this be?

Matt: Oh man, dead or alive… I don’t know man, there’s so many. I’d say somebody like Prince, but he’d probably play me off the stage. Merle Haggard would be unbelievable from the country world. I mean, I could think of a million. Taylor Swift would be fun, some of her stuff I really like. I could go on and on man, for sure. 

Giz: When I was asked to speak to you, I'll be honest, I’d probably only heard one song. So, I did a little bit more research, I like to be prepared. I was looking on Spotify and the first thing back dated in terms of uploads was ‘A River Through It’, but then I realised looking on Wikipedia and stuff like that, you had a couple more albums ‘The Sound & the Story’, and ‘Vestibule Blues’?

Matt: Yeah man, I made those records myself back before I had a deal, before I moved to Nashville, when I was just trying to get anywhere in a van and trailer to play music. So, those earlier projects, my record label was nice enough to keep one of them up from back in the day, which is cool.

Giz: That’s sort of what I was going to ask. Of those earlier albums, were they released by yourself or released via a record company?

Matt: I worked hard to pay for it, taking out loans and having my grandma co-sign so that I could go make a record and, hopefully, make the money back. Luckily it did, none of that stuff really popped off but it paid for itself, and it kept me playing music for a job for a long time. That was exciting, it was fun times man. Now things are different, and my job is different in a lot of ways, but I wouldn’t go back. [laughs] I don’t know If I’d want to go back to those days but I sure loved them at the time.

Giz: Over the years, did you do the old playing covers in bars, sort of thing?

Matt: Yeah man, I did. I always played original music though, even when I was playing covers. I probably shouldn't have [laughs] but I had a passion for it and I wanted to get my songs out there so people could hear them, and that was kinda what I did for a long time. I would play shows that were mainly my own original music, and then I moved to Nashville finally. We’d throw some covers in the sets, but we were playing our own music, so that’s kinda the dream for sure.

Giz: One thing I wanted to ask you, because especially Andrew, and I know a few other people that are really into country music in the UK. How do you find UK crowds compared to US crowds?

Matt: I love it man. The UK crowds when I was over there for C2C, people just really leaning in to pay attention, and catch every word watching the show. I’d always heard country music was huge overseas and it’s very true, but I love how engaged the crowds are over in Europe and in the UK, and that's really special because that’s what you want. You want to make music that people care about, pay attention to, and make their night more fun. Make their day better or whatever when they hear it, that’s what makes it so fun heading over to y’all side of the world.

Giz: You’re coming back over again quite soon aren’t you?

Matt: The end of October, yeah. We’ll be back in the UK, me and my buddy Elvie Shane are heading that way to play some music, it will be so much fun.

Giz: Are you coming with a band or just on your own?

Matt: It won’t be a full band, it will be a singer-songwriter kinda vibe, which I love doing. We play full band shows quite a bit and I love doing it, but there’s something really free about getting over just you and a couple of guitars and playing the songs the way I wrote most of them. I always love to hear artists do that, so I look forward to do it myself.

Giz: Me and Andrew are coming over to see you in Manchester, because we live quite near. I’m quite glad I’m doing this over Zoom though, because I’m like 5 ft 5 and you’re 6 ft 7, that’s right isn’t it? [laughs].

Matt: [laughs].

Matt: Hopefully we will catch you then.

Giz: You released 'Man Made' earlier in the year. Is that from an upcoming album or EP or anything?

Matt: It will be an upcoming project for sure, we’ve got new music in the pipeline. Nowadays music gets released in such a digital way that plans change a lot more than they used to. I’ve got a bunch of new music that I’m really excited about. We’ll have it all out soon, really soon.

Giz: A Couple more things to ask you if you don’t mind. I’d like to do a little quickfire?

Matt: Absolutely.

Giz: So let's talk about Matt Stell’s favourite food?

Matt: My favourite food is anything my Grandma is cooking, she’s the best!

Giz: [laughs] good answer.

Giz: Favourite colour?

Matt: Black

Giz: Same

Giz: Favourite country?

Matt: Besides the one I live in, I would say the UK.

Giz: Another great answer!

Giz: Favourite hobby?

Matt: Golf, I love playing golf. 

Giz: What is Matt Stell’s pet hate? 

Matt: [laughs] I try to stay pretty chilled for the most part, but people who drive on their mobile phones.

Giz: Thanks a lot for talking to us. At Music Talkers one thing we like to do is give people like yourself a platform to say whatever it is you want to your fans. What would you like to say to any fan that could be listening to this?

Matt: First I say thanks, the second I say, I can't wait to see you when we get on y’all side of the world. We got a bunch of new music and everything we do is geared toward the live show, and even when it'll just be an acoustic stripped-down kinda thing, we still rock out pretty hard. My radio singles are a little on the softer side, but the rest of our stuff’s not at all. So yeah, come see us, we’ll be glad to see you.

Giz: Well Matt, it’s been really good to talk to you, and thanks for joining us. We will see you in October in Manchester, and when you see a little 5 ft 5 guy dressed in black that looks like me, well that’s me. [laughs].

Matt: [laughs] I love it, I love it, I can't wait to have a pint!

Giz: Yeah indeed, same here, and thanks very much. I will see you then, and it's great to talk to you!

Matt: Yes sir, see you.

Author: Andrew Braithwaite

Andrew is the founder and Managing Director of Music Talkers. He's also a keen music enthusiast and plays the guitar.