Today we’d like to introduce you to Gary Matheny.
Hi Gary, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have loved music and singing since a very young boy Elvis Presley being my idol. In my teenage years I learned the guitar and began playing in a garage band. We did the local and regional parties, dances and even competed in a battle of the bands in Macon, Ga. We competed against a few really good groups. We didn’t win, however the fun of performing on stage is always a thrill.
Our local TV station created a show called BASH where every Saturday they would feature a local band to play on TV, that was the top. In the 60s every young boy wanted to be in a band, we played all the popular songs of the day some even took a shot at writing their own material.
At sixteen, I met a young girl and found movies, burgers and gas cost more than I could make on occasional weekends playing music. I decided to put the guitar away and pursue a job. I married that young girl, raised a family and retired to East Tennessee in 2014. In 2015 I picked up and dusted off the guitar and started practicing and renewing my musical skills.
In 2015. I was traveling through Atlanta and the traffic’s horrendous as it always is and I began writing a poem about the gridlock to put on social media for fun. A school friend saw it and asked if they could send it to another friend that had been in the music business professionally. I agreed of course and about a week later I received a call asking if he could put music to it. He created a ballad sound and sent it back. It turned out pretty good, he told me if I wrote anything else he would love to work with me. I began writing more and more, some material good others not so much and keeping a file of the works. Occasionally I will pull from that file to use lines for a song I am writing. A couple of years later another musician in Tennessee heard the ballad and put more of a rock sound to it, I renamed it from Ode To Atlanta Traffic to Exit 10, entered it into a contest and in 2019 I won Most Promising Traditional Songwriter of The Year. Later I went into a Nashville studio and did the song with the Nashville Sound and in 2021 it received The best Traditional Country Song with World Songwriters Awards (WSA) in Australia.
I have forged a great relationship with Lee Jordan-the musician that put the original music to that song. Around 2021, Lee called me and said he was working on a song and wanted to collaborate again. I agreed and Back Where I Belong came to fruition. It has been a great tune and won awards and rose as high as #10 on CashBox top 100 Independent Country chart.
As the years progressed, I have forged many relationships in this industry, done many interviews and had articles written about my journey. I look at the awards at times and it is hard to believe that a guy could begin a new career after retirement. I have created a production company, 31st Street Sounds Productions, a record label Write ‘m Cowboy Records and produced a music program that is currently on the Roku channel OTEL Music Videos (Indie Artist Showcase). My YouTube page has many videos and my music is being played globally.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No it has not been a cake walk. Indie artist struggle to get placement due to lack of visibility, money and industry officials not wanting to take a chance on you. I hear all the time music fans say indie music for the most part is better than the current because you can feel the songs they are singing. I like to say that when a big named artists does an event, he looks into the audience and sees a ticket sold, an indie artist looks and sees a fan.
I have three albums and a few singles and I spend most of my day emailing radio stations, contests anyone I can that might throw me a bone. I feel at times I have been turned down more times than the sheets in a cheap motel, however I continue to press forward because I love writing and performing.
Most indie artist have a real job and a family, they write and perform in hopes of getting noticed and an opportunity for the big time. I give away thumb drives with my music, CD’s to anyone that still has the capability to play a CD and hand out business cards like they are candy. All the social media music sites pay almost nothing when they play our music, so believe me getting rich is not in the cards.
There are multitudes of indie musicians and at any given time you can find one to listen to on the internet, we don’t really compete against one another but with so many the opportunity to listen to good music is always available.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I originally saw myself writing music in the easy listening POP sound, my first album “not looking back” has that sound. In 2020 I met Gary Sadker, Red Ridge Entertainment in Nashville. He took a song Solo Dos Gatos (in 2022 that song won me Song Writer of the Year-International Singer Songwriter Association), put the Nashville sound to it. As the year progressed more songs were sent to him and I created my second album “Renaissance Man” thrusting me into the Country Sound.
Gary is a fabulous arranger and keyboardist and the studio musicians he uses are all top shelf professional guys. They have all played with some of the biggest names in the industry and I am honored to have them on my albums.
When I first began promoting myself, I looked for flashy, outrageous jackets to wear to award events or on stage. I would post several jackets on social media asking fans to choose which one I should purchase. It began to be a big thing as they would share the pictures with their social media friends. I have scaled back somewhat as my closet is getting full.
I am very proud of my accomplishments and the fact my music is played globally. I worked with a consultant out of Ireland in my early days and one morning during a call, I express my frustration that I wasn’t getting the visibility I wanted. I will never forget what he asked me. He said. two years ago did any one in Ireland, Germany, UK know who you were, your music is being played worldwide they know who you are. That made me humble yet encouraged me to continue on.
I try to help anyone in the business I can. I know I will never be a household name or make enough from my music to buy a huge horse farm in middle Tennessee, but if I can help an indie artist get ahead in the business I will do it. My music show Indie Artist Showcase on OTEL Music Videos (Roku) was designed to do just that. The show featured myself and two indie artist on stage in a fabulous venue that resembled the Grand Ole Opry. It was professionally filmed and edited and gave the artist the opportunity to perform on stage with a professional house band and get global coverage. OTEL Music Videos is viewed globally.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
To always be humble and remember there are other indie artist that write and perform better. Because I have won awards and gotten recognition for my music, I am just another guy doing what I love, I also learned that rejection is prevalent but not permanent. When rejected I move to the next name on the list.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: garymatheny.music
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/gary.n.matheny
- Twitter: @garymathmusik
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@garymathenymusic1473
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/ndpVMOOp3KwhNC3jht
- Other: https://linker.ee/garymathenymusic
