Life & Work with Grey Matter

I grew up in the small town of Hohenwald, Tennessee until I was 14 years old. I have always been surrounded by music all my life. My Father played guitar, bass, piano, and other various instruments as well as My mother played the drums and My father’s father played guitar and various instruments as well. I am highly influenced by Johnny Cash, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Michael Jackson, The Temptations, Motown, New Kids on the block, NWA, Eminem, YelaWolf, DJ Paul and many others. During My upbringing I started to create My own music in a unique way when I was 14, since I had never recorded in a studio or had any knowledge of doing so I would play instrumentals on desktop speakers and record my vocals on a camera and then place the video on windows movie maker along with the beat an remove only the video to export it to audio. After doing this for a few years i finally had access to a home studio with an older gentlemen that recorded mostly gospel music. I  recorded 1 album under another alias at that studio and then began to purchase my own equipment to record with.

I grew up on the poor side of things as my dad was a concrete layer/ construction worker so I had to get out and work as many side jobs as possible to slowly purchase the things I needed to record myself before the age of 18. Since then I have recorded roughly 6 albums independently, 5 being recorded under a different alias and working on the 3rd major studio project under my current alias. I have performed over 75+ shows and 10 of those was sold out in 2015, my latest release party in January 2023 also sold out! I have performed alongside the “Redneck Shoulders”, “Shawty Fatt” (RIP Brotha!), “Haystak” (Courtesy Of Thomas Holmes Of Freakshow Ent), and many more! I  put music on pause from 2019-2022 until I  resurfaced by working on my latest album and reconnecting with “Thomas Holmes Of Freakshow Ent” who gave me a slot on his Haystak Promoted show that ultimately gave myself the push I very much needed to put out my music as well as do shows once again. My latest work is “What Happens After Midnight” which touches base with a mixture of hip-hop/rock/ and country context. I’m now working on my 3rd major studio album titled “Classick” in Nashville at Heathenhood Recording Studios.

I’m currently on tour for the “What Happens After Midnight” Album with shows in Columbia, TN/ Lewisburg, TN/ Nashville, TN/ Chillicothe, OH/ Tampa, FL/ Owensboro, KY/ and Birmingham, AL.

I’ve faced many obstacles during my musical career such as; people constantly hating on me an my style of music, venues completely ignoring booking submissions, gaining solid business partners, and several other personal issues. I found the hardest part was finding my own unique sound and brand because I’m such a perfectionist with my work that I don’t want to release anything that’s half put together so I’d say the road have had it’s ups an downs.

I’m a Hip-hop/Country context Artist. I record songs that deal with struggle, pain, trials and tribulations,  and heartache but also enjoy creating songs that make you want to jump around and act a fool. I just want to create music that can put you in a feel or as close as it can get to how I felt when I created the track/album.

I make music for the down-and-out people, the hard workers, the survivors, the broken, the lost, drug users, addiction fighters, losers, winners, and the physically and mentally abused… I’m most proud that I have created an entire tour off of my music and that in 15 years of creating music, I’m finally playing in Nashville and it feels so monumental to me!

There is so much I could say to this question but I’ll make it simple as possible. If you’re just starting out please understand and prepare yourself for long and hard roads, frustrating times, and tons of letdowns but do not give it up no matter who tells you to do so…

It’s worth stepping on stage an presenting your craft to people and getting that overwhelming feeling of excitement you receive when stepping on stage.

If I could have known anything when I first started out would be to come off strong with solid recorded quality material instead of settling for poor quality just to hear myself… having quality headshots, a quality logo, quality sound/ visuals is where I would start…but probably to me the most important is to stay completely humble throughout the process and not becoming so arrogant that people don’t want to work with you.