Daily Inspiration: Meet Matt Long

Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Long. 

Hi Matt, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
In 2010, I graduated with a Music and Ministry Degree from Point Loma Nazarene University. With my degree in hand, I landed a job as a Music Director at a local church about an hour outside of San Diego. As a Music Director, I learned how to play/lead a variety of different musical stylings along with different musicians’ abilities. After 4 years in the ministry, I decided it was a good time for me to move on. I would love to say that I found a job immediately afterwards, but I would be lying. I ended up moving back home to Pine Grove, CA with my family for a year and took a job as a front desk clerk at a local gym. During that time, I was driving an hour and a half once a week to play music for a local church. After being home for almost a year, I decided to move back down to San Diego and pursue education. I ended up receiving my Master’s Degree in Teaching and taught music at a public high school. While teaching music, I put together a band and played at local coffee shops and bars around the greater San Diego area. While attending a local church, I met a now lifelong friend, named Tiffany Goodrick who spurred the creativity to start writing my own music! The floodgates opened up and in 2018 I decided to put out my first EP “Talk of the Town.” I was over the moon when I finally released music into the world and started diving into online classes on how to write, produce, music business, and marketing. In 2020 I lost my job as a teacher due to Covid. During those months of “Virtually Learning” I felt the tugging of Nashville on my heartstrings. I was supposed to visit during spring break of that year but couldn’t. Instead… I packed up my things and headed East! On July 4th, 2020, I officially made it to Nashville, TN. My goal was to only stay here a month! Now, almost a year and a half later, I have played over 400 shows around town, co-written over 50 songs, and have met some of the industry’s heavy hitters. Although my journey is far from over, I am glad that I took the leap to come to Nashville. I’ve got a long journey ahead of me, but I am looking forward to putting in the work to make this whacky dream come true.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I think one of the biggest obstacles/challenges is the work/life balance. Pursuing your passion as an artist is a full-time job in and of itself and doesn’t always pay the bills. There are many times I’ve worked a 40-hour workweek at my day job as a teacher and another 40-hour workweek as a musician. It’s really easy to get burnt out when doing that. In the hustle culture we live in, it is very easy to think that you are not doing enough or not successful based on someone else’s version of what success is. Almost everyone I have met here in Nashville, says it’s a “10-year town.” I think part of the reason people say that is because it takes that long to truly build relationships. So many artists and writers move to town and want to be discovered, however, if they don’t make it within the first couple of years, they end up giving up and moving back home. I live by three rules in this town, “Show up on time, work hard, and be kind!” Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was Nashville. I don’t want to pretend that my music career will magically appear. There have been and will always be challenges along the way, but it’s the attitude in which you face them that will determine your success.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As an artist/entertainer, an area that I specialize in is reading the audience and delivering a solid show! Knowing your audience and reading a crowd can be very difficult. I have been in some shows, where everyone wanted to have a good time and be entertained and I didn’t play a single ballad the entire time. I’ve also had shows where the audience was super engaged and I could pull out some of my slower songs and really captivate the audience with my songwriting ability. Knowing your audience is big. Another thing that sets me apart is having a positive and encouraging message in my music even if it’s a slower ballad. Although life hasn’t always been easy, I try to write from a place where it’ll get better. What sets me apart from others, is my ability to play multiple instruments and multiple genres. Since coming to town, I have found that a lot of people get stuck performing or writing in one particular genre or writing on one particular instrument. I have the privilege of being a multi-instrumentalist who appreciates all different kinds of genres and it shows in the music I write. One of the things I am most proud of is being able to play over 400+ shows since being in town at a variety of different venues. Through playing so many shows, I’ve met a lot of different musicians, producers, and industry executives and that has been really awesome.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I’ve been recently using the phrase, “Must be present to win!” What I mean by that is in order to network with people you must be physically present. I am out and about within the community 5 to 7 times a week at different venues throughout Nashville supporting other artists and meeting new people. However, it’s not just meeting new people, it’s about making a connection and actually taking interest in the other person. It’s about relationships! You can’t just meet a person once and expect to “marry” them or immediately “Go into business” with them. People want to know they can trust you and sometimes that takes 10 years, hence the phrase “10-year town.” I’ve met more people through sheer kindness and appreciation than running up to them and shoving a CD or Merch in their face! People wanna know you’re human and not just a robot wanting to get famous.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: mattlongmusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattlongmusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattlongsmusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattlongsmusic
• Other: https://linktr.ee/mattlongmusic

Image Credits
Piper Landon
Keith Griner
Matt Long
Rick Crisostomo