S1: E4: Matt Shenk - Closer to the Moon

Matt Shenk - MASTER

Tue, 12/28 9:54AM • 1:39:57

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

play, guitar, song, people, band, gigs, music, wrote, solo, record, listen, matt, studio, pedal, mitch, heard, bit, listeners, sound, backstage pass, Backstage Pass Radio, Backstage Pass Radio Podcast, Randy Hulsey Randy Hulsey Music, Randy Hulsey Podcast, Matt Shenk, Mitch Corbin, Orlando, Orlando Florida, Taylor Guitars

SPEAKERS

Randy Hulsey, Matt Shenk, Adam Gordon

Matt Shenk  00:00

Hey everybody, I have a special guest today that comes to us from Orlando, Florida, where he has a very loyal following and a fan base. And I had originally discovered his music through a mutual friend that I saw play while I was down in Florida some years back. So stick around, you're in for a real treat, as we talk to singer songwriter Matt shank right after this.

Adam Gordon  00:22

This is backstage pass radio, the podcast that's designed for the music junkie with a thirst for musical knowledge. Hi, this is Adam Gordon. And I want to thank you all for joining us today. Make sure you like subscribe and turn the alerts on for this and all upcoming podcasts. And now here's your host of backstage pass radio, Randy Halsey.

Randy Hulsey  00:51

Matt, a very pleasant Good evening, and thanks for joining me here in the in the studio this evening. How are you my friend?

Matt Shenk  00:59

I'm doing great. Randy, thank you so much for having me. Yeah, my pleasure. And it's good that we were able to finally get the, I guess the calendar to align. I know you're a busy guy. And it seems like I run around with my head cut off half the time. So it's good to have you on finally, we were talking a little bit briefly pre show. Happy belated birthday, or is in order for there, sir. So. So I discovered you through Mitch Corbin, who I saw personally play when I was down in Florida. Some years back, my daughter's boyfriend was playing professional baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization out of Bradenton. And I think we had driven to Orlando is where I ran into Mitch and saw one of his shows, and I can't remember where he was playing. But sometime after that, I think he was the one that posted a watch party for your music. And I happen to tune in because I saw that pop up on Facebook. And I have to tell you that I Yeah, the show was enjoyable. I really enjoyed the the vocals and the guitar being a musician myself. And I said, Well, when I started this podcast, I wanted to have you on and chat with you a little bit. So I wanted to find out how do you know Mitch? Is it through the music scene there in Orlando? And you know, how did you guys get hooked up? Well, first off, I didn't know that's actually how you found me and, and I it is my pleasure to talk about Mitch Corbin. He is one of the nicest people I've ever met. And, and definitely the nicest musician I've ever met. But we both play out at Disney Springs. And we so we met out there and we typically I believe it was Mondays I would do the day shift there and he would do the night shift. And so we would have this little 15 minute time we would talk. And we would talk about everything from kids to music. And we actually started talking a little bit more when I realized he was pretty knowledgeable at recording and recording equipment. So I would ask his advice all the time. And I've been over to his studio and recorded some stuff. And he's helped me so much. And again, I could go on about what a great guy Mitch is super, super nice guy. And, and probably the best guitar player I know personally, for sure.

Randy Hulsey  03:23

Well, I was certainly impressed. And I and I hope to get him on the show. So we won't talk all show about Mitch of course. But since we're on the subject, and I can remember, and Disney Springs is where you so I have to trust that that's where I saw him. But I remember being there with my daughter and another friend that had traveled to Florida with me. And I just I have an ear for like, I can hear a live guitar play and like I can pick it from 10,000 miles away and I heard it and I'm like, oh, somebody, somebody is playing music somewhere. i Oh, I know that song. I like that song. So I, I gravitated towards that like probably you do as well. And it happened to be Mitch and he was playing and I'm like wow, I'm really diggin these covers that he's playing because they were all as a solo artist myself, I play a lot of that same stuff. So for a little while there, it was just me and my immediate family that were sitting right there kind of dialed into his sound. And he asked if we had any questions, and I just started. I'm like, You can't ask me that. Because I've got like, you know, I've got this this brain that works overtime. And I was like James Taylor, you know, like I just Fogelberg I was throwing all these artists out and he's like, I know he had to have been thinking like who put this guy in front of me like how does he know all of the stuff so we had a blast. We had a blast listening to him and and it's great that I got to meet him and then through him to us. So I'm glad that you're here to talk with me. Tell me about the Orlando music scene. How long have you been And then it and what's it looking like these days?

Matt Shenk  05:03

Well, it's getting back to normal as normal is these days, I guess I started, this would have been my 20th year doing it full time musician. And so I started out playing pool gigs for tourists, and in the middle of August day when it's 115 degrees outside. And so there was a lot of that. And when I started, the music scene is so different now than it was then, when I started out, everybody was using everyone had backing tracks, everyone was doing the same set. You know, it was all Jimmy Buffet, you know, Florida, Florida kind of style stuff. And that's where all the gigs were. And that's when I got into it. And then I did that for a little while now. And just kind of progressed out of the local scene, more into the out to Disney and House of Blues and stuff like that. Gotcha. And now and now, it became it's over the last 20 years, it's become a haven for musicians that have come here from all over the country and world. Sure, especially out of Disney out of Disney. There's so many talented people that came out there. And then obviously when COVID hit that Disney was shut down. So it became non existent for six months, which is how you found me,

Randy Hulsey  06:20

because I hadn't started in the backyard, right? Yeah, right. Yeah, that's

06:25

for sure. Yep.

Randy Hulsey  06:26

I wondered about the Orlando scene made mainly from the perspective of it is a tourist Haven. And I would have to think that there's always good crowds at most of the places that you'll play just because of all the tourism and maybe I maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. But I mean, what can you share with me about that? Do you see the crowds being maybe larger? Because it is kind of a tourist mecca? Or is that not so much the case?

06:57

Um, yeah, it's the crowds now are have been coming back. Strong. We were surprised how many people were coming out there as early as they were. And there's, you know, depends on the time of year you're there. But at night, it's Disney. So it's, you know, it's always going to be packed. If, you know, obvious night, I'm out there. It's packed. And I think that I think we have a lot more local people that go out there now. Because a lot of people just got tired of not going to places we we don't have the people from overseas coming in right now. So I think people just needed a place to go. And they thought, well, that's kind of like vacation. We can't wait, we'll, we'll go out there. And as a matter of fact, at House of Blues, they brought us back I think in May or June, as a band. And because my band plays out there once a week. And then typically in September, our business out there dies down. So in August, they said, Matt, Matt, we're sorry, we have to cut the band budget, so you have to go solo. So we cut the band budget, September hit, and it was as busy as it's ever been. And I think that was that was because locals were like, well, it's outside. It's kind of like vacation. So we'll go out there. So the crowds have been great. Since then I'd like maybe better than ever.

Randy Hulsey  08:17

That's, that's awesome. And how does that change the set? Or the set list? I should say, when you go from Band to solo? Does it vary greatly at that time? Or do you guys do a lot of cover stuff with the band? Or is it all original stuff that you're doing with the band?

Matt Shenk  08:36

It's mixed the covers and original songs, and it doesn't change that much. I probably do a little bit more mellow stuff. And I do solo I probably do. Let's say and we have we have long sets out there. We have five hours, five hours shows. So Wow. I would probably do when I'm solo I'd probably do let's say for James Taylor songs, you know, one in each set or something. It's not, if not to two and a set versus when we're with the band. We probably do one James Taylor song a night. And then you know Stevie Ray Vaughn song, which I probably maybe wouldn't do in my, my solo set. So but generally speaking, it's a lot of the same stuff. If you probably I don't know what show you saw, but I do a lot of looping. Yep. So so when I so I can still do a lot of the same material. So it doesn't it's a whole lot more fun with a bit cannot say that.

Randy Hulsey  09:28

Yeah, and a couple of things that came to mind while you were telling me that I did the band thing back in the 80s. And I I always joke, kind of tongue in cheek that people will come up to me at the at my shows and basically say, When are you going to put a band together? And I'm like, Well, I did that back in the 80s. And here's where I met today. It's like, I want to play the songs that I want to play. I want to play the shows that I want to play. I want to take all the money home and put it in my bank account and and there's only one ego that I have The full width. So that's kind of the joke about the band and all of the things that I have going on. It's it's not conducive for me to be in a band, I don't think but I did want to tell the listeners that if you are a James Taylor fan, and you love to hear James Taylor covers, I don't think that you'll find a better cover person than than Matt. I mean, I absolutely. I'm like this guy has hit the nail right on the head with the with the James Taylor covers for sure. So if you ever get a chance to listen to Matt, play maybe a Facebook Live or something, then certainly do that. And I think, and I'm a huge Taylor fan. But I have to say that I think fire and rain may be the only thing I cover by him and maybe occasionally sweet baby James, if I'm feeling adventurous, but I think fire and rain is about the only as much as I love him. I just don't, I don't cover a whole lot of stuff by him. Tell me how many shows, I guess combined solo and with the band, how many shows where you play in a year, in the good times without a pandemic around?

Matt Shenk  11:19

Okay, and let's see, I would say 250 to 300 shows, maybe a year. Let's go to stop doing as many. So as I get a little bit older. Also, all of my gigs are now mostly at Disney. And they're all fine as I said five hour shows. So when I first started all gigs were three hours. And oh, how I miss out How I miss those. Not I love playing that and four hours, okay, but man, that fifth hour is just, it's a killer. So. So now that I'm doing five hour shows, if I do three Shows a week, that's the old five shows a week. And so, so right now I'm averaging back to about three to four a week and shows now so that's, you know, usually around 20 to 2425 hours a week.

Randy Hulsey  12:18

And the crazy thing about that is well, you're a full time musician, you play a lot of shows, that's what you have made your living doing. Kudos to you for that I you know, I'm in sales for 11 work for a consulting firm selling it to enterprise customers. So I'm 100 and I think in 2019 That was probably the most shows that I did and I'm and I think I did like right at 130 and which which is a lot for working full time and then trying to go out and play play shows on the weekend. But I will tell you that you know I have some two hour shows and three hour shows some four hour shows, the two hour shows are almost hardly worth packing your gear and setting up for because it's like you're you're spending more time loading in and loading out then you are even playing so that's a little short. The three hour is the sweet spot the four hour especially for a guy like me that that doesn't do it every day is nothing short of an ass weapon on the on the voice right? I mean, I just have to be honest. So you tend to maybe for the for our shows, I tend to maybe take us one song off and take an extra five minute break, you know, during that time, but I don't I don't know me personally, I don't know that I could really do a five hour show and I was I was gonna ask you the question and I think I might have taken it out out of my questions to ask but I was gonna say do you play outside in August in Orlando which has got to be brutal in and of itself because Orlando's almost exactly like Houston with or it's just like hot and humid and and can be downright miserable. So and I know trying to play a guitar keeping sweat off the hands can be a real daunting task sometimes.

14:12

Well, well I do play outside in August in Florida. And, and I will tell people that people will come up and and talk about my Taylor I have a beautiful Taylor guitar and people will come up all the time and and say oh, that's a beautiful instrument. And I will tell them and if it's in the summer I'm like, Yeah, but that's not the best piece of equipment I have. And I'll show them my Stanley fan down on the floorboard. I'm like you can take the guitar do not take my fan.

Randy Hulsey  14:45

You know what is this right now? Because it's funny because great minds think a lot of like, I have a plastic tub is one of the things that I carry that has all my cables. My tip jar, a couple of stands in there, and the prized possession in there. And all of the gear is a is a fan. You know that you don't leave home without the fan. I've left the guitar at home. But never before but I've never left the fan. So I concur with you. 100% When would you say that you got into music? How old were you? When you really started getting into the music or maybe even became an an instrumentalist.

15:32

Pretty early on my my father plays, he actually still does solo gigs himself over on the coast of Florida. Not very often, but, you know, couple, two or three times a month, he'll do that. So I grew up around that he was he had a band, I grew up. And my family's also Mennonite on my father's side. And everybody sings. And everybody sings, not just things, but they think, perfect pitch and like four part harmony, and it's ridiculous. And so I grew up around, I grew up around that. And I played violin and the piano when I was in my, you know, eight, nine year old 10 year old self, but when I turned 11, I wanted to be in a rock and roll band. And so that's when I actually bought a bass first. And I got a bass guitar and started playing that. And we formed our band our garage and started playing rock hard rock music in our garage. And a year later, I was like I wanted I really enjoyed the bass, but I did I did want to, you know, expand into guitar. So that's, that's kind of how that started. And I did that for for I guess probably eight or 10 years playing lead guitar and a hard rock fan. Writing song.

Randy Hulsey  16:45

This interview is starting to scare me a little bit because I'm looking at a video of somebody that's mimicking like me, right and I did the same thing right. My first my first electric guitar was a bass because I was a huge Nicki six fan of Motley Crue always love Motley, right? And I said, Man, I got to get a bass. So I'm a classically trained pianist. That was my first instrument. And then I'm like, oh, gotta get a bass got to learn the bass. And so I bought the bass. And I'd always been a singer too. And I'm like, Well, wait a minute, I can't really sing along with the bass. So I need to go get an acoustic guitar. So I traded the bass and bought my first guitar. And it was all downhill from there. Now I'm a guitar junkie. But I like you. The bass was the the first go to electric guitar that I had bought.

17:37

The reason I got bass was because me and my buddies all like in the garage said, Well, what are you gonna play? And nobody everyone said, No one said to me, exactly. I got I got stuck with the bass. Having said that, like, I wish I would have kept playing it. But yeah, but yeah.

Randy Hulsey  17:56

Well, it's funny. Well, it's not really funny. But it's interesting that guys like you and I, we started out loving the hard rocks. And I still do. I'm a rock pig from way back. But I've found that over time, and especially being a solo artist, you have to be a little diverse in the genre can't just go and say I'm doing only this. And that's it. You have to go outside of the the genre in which you really like so I started learning country, some Americana, and whatnot. So it's interesting that you say that, you know, the rock guy, and now you're playing the James Taylor stuff. Not that you didn't ever like that. But it's kind of neat to to see everything come full circle with a new genre. So you, you came from a musical family sounds like dad's still out doing some gigs. I wonder if he's a smart man and doesn't play an August there in Florida? Or is he actually play in a play in there in the summertime there as well?

19:02

He does that he just doesn't do it as much. And again, he doesn't have to do it he's doing. He doesn't do it for a job so he can kind of pick and choose. But he loves the hot weather anyway. So he's all right.

Matt Shenk  19:14

Well, you'd almost have to to live where we live and do kind of what we do. What genre would you classify your music that you're writing? Where Where would that fall? In?

19:26

A great question. I never know how to answer that. Actually, singer songwriter used to be the way I would say that, but that's so I mean, that could be r&b or pop or hip hop. Now there. You can be fall in that category. I still kind of use it. I use it kind of indie, indie singer songwriter. I used to call it acoustic soul for a while when we were trying to come up with, you know, branding and stuff, because at a very young age I loved there. I actually realized I didn't want to be in a rock band anymore when I would come out in the band. would go, I would come in, like play Marvin Gaye. And they'd be like, What are you doing? Like, this is great. Don't you love this Stevie Wonder and they're like, but not so much. And so, I have a little I have a little bit of a soul, I think in my, what would normally just be acoustic music, I think I had a little bit of soul to that. So I would call it acoustic. So singer songwriter, I don't, probably too long of a name for a genre. But yeah,

Randy Hulsey  20:27

we'll make make your own genre. I mean, that's what I say, right? I mean, and I don't it doesn't even matter. I don't I don't think genres even matter. I was just curious if you if you were to say I'm in this genre, or I feel like I'm in this genre. What would it be if I fallen in love with the the Americana genre as of recent over the last year and a half, two years, and one of my favorite artists is Jason bell. And I'm like, I don't even know really what Americana music isn't sounds kind of country ish to me. So I don't,

20:58

I think I think it's a cross between like Southern rock and country and folk. But I'm with you as well. I didn't really know what it was. But I find myself loving loving that. And just recently was introduced to Jason Isbell by a friend of mine, and starting to really like that as well. So I could see myself probably starting to write a little bit more Americana style stuff. As I've been writing, during COVID, I've written so much, I bet we'll see what comes out, maybe. next album,

Randy Hulsey  21:25

yeah, what else is there to do during a pandemic, but hone your craft and write songs? So do you record and produce your own stuff? Or do you have a go to studio there in Florida, or, or somewhere else, that that masters your stuff, talk to me a little bit about the recording efforts, I see monitors, kind of like I have here. So I know you'd probably do some recording there. But I didn't know what the extent of the recording was that went on in your home.

21:51

Well, I, I do everything here. Now. My album, this is water. I did that. And a studio called Starlight studios in downtown Orlando. And that was produced in by by myself along with Brock Berryhill, and Evan Kaufman. And they were the owners of the studio. They're both in Nashville now like killing it. Brock Berryhill is written for every name and country music you could probably possibly think of. So I did my album there exclusively. For that since then, I spent a couple years after that, starting to build my own studio and teach myself how to use it with the help of FM kind of dumping my curve for me. So I've been doing everything here now. And I, I think I've recorded, I've released two songs from the studio. And I did everything here except I did have a drummer do a drum track remotely from Nashville. When when COVID was happening, so I'm doing everything here. I typically have Evan mix stuff down. I've had a couple other people mixed up down and other studios. And then all my mastering recently has been done it air show out and Colorado to I believe we're getting a lot of the dead did way back when so. But yeah, I'm trying to do everything. I'm trying to do everything in here now. And as you probably know you, it will, it'll take you down a very, very dark hole and trying to figure out how to get the best acoustic sound and the best vocal sound. And my wife keeps telling me, why don't you just play and record push record? And she's probably right. Like, probably she was. Yeah, I know. I my brain doesn't work that way.

Randy Hulsey  23:35

I know. I know what you mean. And my wife always kind of says the same thing. Man, you've got so much money tied up in the studio. Do you know how to use any of the stuff in here? I'm like, not really. But, but, but I have all the good stuff. Right? That's all that matters. Yeah. And I think a lot more people are doing things in the home studios these days, you know, before you had to have a, you need to get signed by a label and go to this studio or that studio. And I mean, people are making some pretty fantastic recordings in their own home studios these days.

24:13

Well, I mean, Billy Eilish, you know, has won just about every award there is and her and her brother did that in the bedroom of their parents home in that career, you know, that whole album, and like it's, it's a different world. You know, we're, we're able to get our music out all over the world without a record company. And it's amazing. You know, it makes the talent pool, you know, immense and makes the competition crazy staggering. Yeah, crazy staggering. And anybody that has talent than has a studio in their house can get their music out there and in some way or another, which I don't think there's ever been a time in the history of music where there was this much great music that you can find and most people may or may not know it because there's five If I doesn't shoot it to them, but my on a daily basis, Spotify will feed me something that they think I like. And I wind up thinking, oh my god, this is how do people not love this guy Exactly. And like, this is amazing music and we would have never heard this, you know before, you know before and again, say what you will about Spotify and all that stuff. I have a love hate relationship with it. But they will choose something they think you like and it's somebody you've never heard of who lives in a tiny town in Nebraska is making the most talented person you've ever heard. Yeah,

Randy Hulsey  25:34

exactly. And I didn't even include this question. In my outline, I tried to prepare for all my interviews because I don't want to miss anything. You know, I tried to treat these spots as maybe the last time I'll ever get to talk to somebody again. So it's important the time that we spend together, but I always like to ask that the people that I'm interview and who does Randy Halsey and who do the listeners on this show need to be listening to of course, this show is about Matt shank and the the we want to get a a whole new group of listeners listening to your stuff, but is there somebody that you're really into these days that like guys, you need to check this person out? Like if you don't check anybody else? Oh, can you think like you

26:20

said, just like when you were referring to Mitch asking you if you had any questions to be paired I'm

Randy Hulsey  26:27

that's one of my said I was gonna limit this to an hour right.

26:32

Other people, I will say and it might not be that obscure. One of my favorite artists is Amos Lee. And I've been listening I've probably seen him six or seven times. Just phenomenal talent, great tunes. Catchy, lyrically Great. Glen Hansard, which, you know, a lot of people may know him from the swell season. And the movie wants I don't know, if you haven't seen the movie once or the play. It was on Broadway it is. Every musician should see it. That watching seeing them live changed. The way I perform is the most influential concert of my life. Glen Hansard is one of the best performers I've ever heard. Seen live. He leaves everything out there. The head and the heart. I love them. Also a great band. Who else now there's a obscure guys named bliss vol back. Okay, I don't know what Nash nationality is. But I've never heard phrasing. So different and just flowing. I really liked him a lot. And let's see, that's probably I could go on and on and on. But those are the people that come to my mind right away. That I just that I find myself really emulating, but yet gravitating if I'm going to listen to something, I can't think of it. I will pick those on. But yeah, I'll leave it at that because it would go on.

Randy Hulsey  27:58

No, I get it. And I'm the same way. And I and I appreciate you sharing that on your time. You know, I always think if I have favorite artists, like yourself, I've enjoyed your music, of course, I'm a fan or I wouldn't have asked you to come on the show. But when people I like recommend me to other people, I tend to take those recommendations and run with them. So I really want to listen to these people that you're speaking of. And I have to be honest, I haven't heard of any of them. I mean, there's 88 trillion musicians in the world. So I go when I can go into that with an open mind and just based on recommendations. So thanks for sharing that. And I wanted to talk a little bit about your effort called This is water that was recorded back in 2013. I can hear some maybe John Mayer, possibly maybe some Jason Mraz influence. Is this something that you've ever heard before? Or am I the first one to ever say that there's a I mean, it's not it's nothing like them, right? I'm just saying, you can hear music and you're like, oh, man, that I could hear John Mayer or Jason Mraz singing that song that Matt wrote, have you heard this before?

29:14

Yeah. Not so much, Jason Mraz a little bit maybe once or twice, but definitely John Mayer. I've heard that I listened to him a lot when he first came out. And I think he's one of the better songwriters kind of our of our time, amazing songwriter. And I think he gets lost a little bit on his popularity, actually, ironically. Yeah. But yeah, but a great songwriter, so I can definitely, yeah, I'm not mad at that comparison.

Randy Hulsey  29:39

Yeah, right. Well, I know what I've never really listen. I wouldn't say I've never been a John Mayer fan because that's not a fair quote. I guess I have to say that. I never really paid much attention to him until recently, and I saw him playing. There was some high def recording on YouTube with like three songs. And he was just it was just him and a Martin guitar and I'm like, holy cow, this guy. This guy is good. And his vocals are spot on the end. He's a great player, no doubt. Great player. Yeah, phenomenal. So So I it's one of those things again, you think I don't care anything about this artist or that artist until you, you really give them a listen. And then it's a whole new, you know, a whole new love. Unfortunately, he plays the wrong guitar brand. And he plays Martin, but we won't we won't hold that against them. So you had an effort called this as water and I believe it was recorded sometime back around 2013 If I'm not mistaken, and you can certainly either debunk that myth or does that sound right around 2013 when that came out?

30:49

Yeah. Yeah, we 2013 And I think it was released in late 2013. I think maybe Thanksgiving Day. It was really so yeah,

Randy Hulsey  30:58

now I know you've got I think you've got some singles as well. But is that the the only full full album that you have? Out? Like I have it on? Spotify, of course, but I didn't know what else you had out there that the listeners might be interested in.

31:14

There's, there's another album that we won't give anybody any secrets on how to get. It was my first album I ever did on a standalone digital recorder in my with all the wrong mics and along equipment and a long time ago, it's not streaming it's just in a print and I've got like three or four of them left around just to make myself laugh. You know, later on in life, I couldn't I couldn't bear to listen to it now. But

Randy Hulsey  31:40

isn't. Isn't that funny? I have friends that come out to my shows. And you know, they everybody has their camera in hand and their video camera in hand and and they tagged me and put these things on my Facebook account and I just half the time I don't approve them because I you know, I'm told Hey, Randy, your I love your sound. I love your voice. But it's something about listening to yourself that drives me crazy. Like you just think you stink. And so I just prefer not to listen to myself. And I'll even when I've done lives, kind of like you i i would do Facebook Lives. Well, most of the time. I don't even save them. Like I just I do them live. And then when it asked you would you like to save this, I just say no, delete it. You know, if you if you didn't hear it the first time you don't need to go back and listen to it the second time, of course, I'm in a little bit different position than you are as a as a full time musician. I mean, certainly you want to get the word out and get get the people following you and listening to your songs and whatnot. But I don't worry about that too much on my end. But I've just never been a fan of listening to myself on a on a video recording that has 200 people in a room talking at the same decibel level the church that you're playing at. So on that on that record, is there a track on the album that stands out is maybe a favorite of yours, I would

33:09

say that's a hard thing to say. But I would say catching stone. It's an open tuning. So it's different. And it's I think it kind of is my finger picking style that I do a lot of live. And so I think that comes along there. The subject matter I really liked. I got the name I was at a conference and for mental health issues, and I work with some some people in town and a guy got up and started saying doing a speech and he said, everybody in this room is stone catchers. And you're all like there's a lot of people throwing stones but you guys people are you're catching you know, or you said your stone fetchers and I stopped listening and I just wrote down catching stones right away. And so that's kind of what that song is about, just about people that are, you know, going above and beyond and helping other people why there's a lot of people that are, you know, throwing stuff. Yeah, making life and the world worse. But yeah, and that's about and I

Randy Hulsey  34:13

that's a great song. I've listened to the all of the songs several times and I think it basically references you know, stop throwing and start catching

34:24

right? Yeah, yeah, it's and I love Heather Godwin things on that with me. And I just love like, her voice is just I mean, like, I'm an angel. And, and she always just her voice since the she actually was a hostess that my main gig or real and she used to, I could hear her kind of thing in the distance and harmony and so we would do it. She'd come in and sit in with me a little bit and I've never met anybody who just knows what I'm going to do and they'll I'll tell you my whole band. I don't ever do the same thing twice. The same way. I Just it's not good. Like I just because I play solo a lot. I can take liberties of changing stuff up when I want like. So Heather has always been able to kind of know what I was going to do when I was going to do it. I don't know how but yeah, that's probably why I love that song so much just because her voice is so featured on

Randy Hulsey  35:15

her voices angelic. I wondered who that was singing with you. So thanks for sharing who that is. Certainly everybody deserves to know who that is. There's a a little voice on the record that says this is water. And I have to assume that's maybe one of your kids.

35:33

Yeah, that's actually that's my son, who's 11. Now, so I guess that would have made him what, five or four or something like that at the time. And, and so yeah, we went in, and I don't even remember whose idea it was to do. I think it was the engineer and producer Evans idea to like, we should have him come in and say, you know, because we were also having him. Say, daddy, we take me closer to the moon before we start that song. So I think that's we just decided him to do that. Yeah, it was cute and adorable.

Randy Hulsey  36:09

Well, I think that I think that's neat, because you're instilling something in the kids that way, like you're part of this, it's, it's what Daddy does for a living, and you're part of it. And I think that's a really cool gesture there. So So kudos on that. I was talking to another artist in Austin, Texas. And she has for I think, four albums out, I still refer to them as albums. I guess I date myself a little, a little when I say albums, but people I guess people will get the gist. And she has four releases out and I asked her kind of the same question. Like do you have a favorite song on each of these and she's like, you know, there's, I don't think there's any way I can even pinpoint one. I'm so proud of all of the all of the songs that I've done. And I'm sure as an artist, you're certainly proud of what you've done. So I just, I put you on the spot a little bit to pick a favorite one. So thanks for sharing that. We will take a quick listen to a song off this is water. And this is a song called all that you see and we'll take a listen to that. I'll share that with the listeners. And then we'll come back and talk about the song a little bit.

37:24

Springtime be the sweet smell of jasmine glowing Japan spa see sonra be the golden rays from the cloud side your sleep the sun shower raining down.

Randy Hulsey  38:36

That's certainly one of my favorite songs on the record there. I won't say that. It's my favorite. But I will share with you my favorite before we're done. I think a lot of artists write sometimes, like first person, second person, third person. Some are writing about things that have never happened or fictitious people. Was there somebody in particular that this song was written about?

39:01

Yeah, I'd say great story. It's, I wrote this song of a friend of mine. His name was Scott Tucker. He was a photographer. And I tried to say this quickly. He when I first started getting a little bit of notoriety locally. And I opened up for a big jazz band at this pretty big show. And I mean, they had eight pieces or something. And then there was me opening up by myself. And when I got done, there was about five or six photographers that walked up and said, gave me their card that took some great shots from you. I'll email you and if you want to get some, well, all of them wanted to charge me for all the shots except for Scott. And Scott was like, Hey, I took some great shots, and you can have whatever you want. Anyway, we became good friends and he always came out and took pictures of my well. He suddenly passed away a couple years after that. And his daughter was posted with my daughter and and when he passed away, his wife asked me to sing At the funeral. And so I was trying to think of something to do. And I said, Well, what would I want to do? If I passed away? Suddenly? What would I want my family to know? Like how I would want to comfort them some way and want them to feel some comfort in and maybe give them some things that are going to happen for surely in their life that are going to make them go, oh, yeah, there is. And it doesn't even have to be you don't even have to be spiritual or believe in God, you just have to have those things happen. And whether they're the Jasmine blooms are passed by or the sun peeking through the clouds, whatever those things are, you know, when it happened, you you'll remember that person. So that's kind of what I did. And when I sang it at a funeral, it was a bit different than it wound up turning out. When I went into the studio. I played it for the producers. And they're like, Yeah, we really liked it. I said, Can I play what I've kind of redone? And I've changed the course a little bit. And I played it now like, oh, yeah, we love that so much better. So that song, I have gotten emails and messages from all around the world of people that have they've lost someone. And that is gave them comfort, which is you know, there's not really a better thing to hear and compliment, then someone saying a trick that to help them song. Yeah. And yeah, and you help them through a tough time. So that's where that song came from in it. And when we recorded that song first, we knew right away, no matter what happened after that, that would be the first track on the album, because it just, it just kind of hit you in the face. Yeah,

Randy Hulsey  41:31

I love the story. I've always been into the storyteller portion of the music, I was the kid and I've said this on numerous podcasts that I've recorded. I was the kid that would buy a record or a CD or cassette tape, whatever it was, at the time, run home Buster wrapper on it and read the liner notes. Sure, to me, the music was second to me, even though I love the music, but I wanted to know who were the artists? Where did they record, blah, blah, but you know, all of that stuff. And the stories behind the songs. And there's nothing better to me as a singer songwriter, as well, to hear how you came up with your songs, because I think they take take on a life of their own and add they give the listener a different way. Or a different perception of the song you listen to it differently, I think is what what I'm trying to say, when you understand how and why it was written. So even now, I listened to the song today going to lunch to meet a client. And you telling me that you know when I listen to it again, I'll listen to it totally different than I did today even though so thank you for sharing that. Where would you say that your Lyric inspiration comes from? I hear a lot of family things going on in the music, which I love. You don't hear that too much. And in music, it's ex girlfriends and drinking beer in the bars and things like that, which is all great stuff. But I didn't know if there was a lyrical inspiration that that you pull from or it's your it's your go to to pull from? Can you speak to that a little bit?

43:11

I've, I would say I've well first I'll say everything I've ever written about is either happened to me were happening to somebody that I know. Or an experience of some kind that was close to me. Some of the best songwriters in the world don't do that. They just write songs, write songs, right. I tried to do it years ago, I went to Nashville and started writing with some people and tried to do the, you know, song and a Bach just, you know, put them out, put them out, put them out, and I came up with some pretty, pretty cool stuff. But I didn't feel it. It just gave me no satisfaction whatsoever. And so I kind of went away from that. It's probably why I don't have a huge catalogue of release music is because of that, that it always had to be something that happened to me. I've recently tried to branch out a little bit from that I took a class with an online class with Ryan Tedder from One Republic and I don't know if you're familiar with him, but he's written he's written for everybody, Adele, YouTube, Paul McCartney, produced everybody. And he had a different way of going about writing songs and that I've tried to incorporate which is to start some music, just start spitting out some words and ideas and then find something that sticks and then build off of that. Now even having said that, they've always come back to something that was about me. So it's always about something that's happened to me or something personal with me and and I believe that's probably why I don't have a large catalogue. Well, and I also believe it's probably why my fan base is maybe not that large either. But I do believe that the fan base I do have appreciate that so much because I've had so many producers and record companies and publishers tell me, we really like this, but it's too personal. It's too specific. It's too, you know, they don't they don't want that. And I get it, I get I get why they don't. Okay. So but that is, I think that's probably inhibited me a little bit, but I'm okay with the trade off.

Randy Hulsey  45:17

I think it I don't know, maybe it's just me, I think that that kind of music resonates more with me if it's not, if I know that it's real that you wrote, you know, for example, that song, how it was written that that brings me as a listener closer to that song, the Beegees years ago had a song called I think it was called nights on Broadway, where they talk about singing the straight from the heart songs, that I mean, that's to me, that's a straight from the heart song. And it doesn't get any more personal than that. So you can either water it down with made up characters and whatnot, and they all make for great songs. Don't get me wrong, but me as a listener, I think I'm probably drawn a little bit more to your mindset and how you go about writing and thinking of songs. And would you say that a lot of the songs that you write come to you quick, or are they a long drawn out methodical thought process, because you hear a lot of artists, you know, like, I was watching something with Daryl Hall the other night, and I think he said rich girl came to him, and it was written in like, 10 minutes, one of one of the biggest songs that hollow notes ever recorded. So I didn't know what your experience was with with writing, do they come to you quick? Did they take forever? Or is it a mix of the two?

46:35

I was gonna say, yeah. That's the Yes. Typically, they're drawn out. And they're typically drawn out because of my own OCD. And, and I'm never really satisfied with something I can always make better. And that's good. But then there's probably a point where you probably need to stop. Having said that there are a few songs that that just happened. And I forget, I don't know if you know who Wayne Dyer dot Wayne Dyer is. But he was basically a self help guy, an author who passed away recently and, and I remember reading one of his books, and he said, The songs are out there, just out in the universe. And it's all dependent on whether you're going to pick it out of the universe and be the one to ride it. And he was course talking about books. Sure. And he's like, he doesn't believe he wrote, he just happened to be the person that wrote it down and it came out. And I didn't really buy into that so much then but I'm, I'm starting to buy into it a little bit more. Because like, I think if you allow that to happen, and you you open yourself up to that, I think songs are coming to me a lot quicker. Now. I recently during that class, we had to write three songs. And the last song I had to do, you're supposed to collaborate with somebody. Okay, now it was in the middle of COVID. I couldn't collaborate. But my wife, that friend had just passed away. And I was sitting in here in the studio, and I had this guitar part, but I had no idea what I was going to write about. She walked in and she said, I just clicked with this post from Instagram from Jen, her best friend and I had a picture of shoes. And it said These shoes have run down Main Street they played with the kids in the backyard, they've seen the Northern Lights, they've done all just basically a really cool thing that she was she wrote, and later that night, I woke up about three o'clock in the morning, the shoes, title just in my head. And so I got up at five o'clock in the morning, and I stalked her all of her social media, done all the things that she had done all these years and started writing and I mean that song just, I mean, it just wrote itself. I'm recording it right now. And I actually believe it's my best song I've ever written. And it just, it just came out. So when you know Joe it's not out yet. It's not out yet. I'm recording it right now. And I I've been playing it live not telling anybody what it is. Yeah. And you know, and people will come up and say What's that song and you know, to slightly sad and obviously but it's also it just as like just goes to what we were talking about where the song I think was out there and I just happened to be the person that pulled it out and I probably wouldn't even my wife didn't walk in and you know read that post so

Matt Shenk  49:09

it's funny how they come about so would you say that you are when you write songs do you are you a chord progression guy first and lyrics later or lyrics first and music later? cart before the horse or horse before the cart? I guess I'm asking

49:27

Yeah, most I would say 90% of the stuff I write his music first. I have to be kind of inspired by something. Now an idea or a song title I may come up with and go let me find a mood that fits you know, a chord progression that fits that mood of that title. But most of the time it's me just playing piano or guitar and going humming along with it and all of a sudden something comes out but there are some songs where I set out to like all that you see when okay I need to write a song about this but this guy's family And so then I just start trying to come up with something for that idea. So I would say 90% of the time, it's music first. And

Randy Hulsey  50:07

this is a little off topic, I think. But I remember one of the first interviews I did, I had a good buddy of mine who I used to play in a duo with. And one of the songs on his record, he was telling me that one of the background singers happened to be the producers, Dad sang a backup track on there, and he recently had passed, and my buddy Paul had played that song at the funeral. And, and I was, I was telling Paul, and in our interview, like, I don't know that I could do that, because I get too, too wrapped around the song or two inside the song and the emotion starts to come out. So I didn't know what your take on. That was, like you said, you wrote the song. You played it at the funeral. Was that a hard thing for you? Or did you did you have to get in a different mindset to play such a powerful piece for that, that you had written for that person at their funeral?

51:05

Well, I'll say I am one of the bigger crybabies on the planet. I am full full on cry are very emotional. So those things are hard. Typically, when even though he was a close friend, and the situation of all that, you see, I was doing it for them. Yes. And like the end, so they were my, they were my priority. The his daughter and his wife. And so I kind of was able to, like, surprise myself out of the equation to be like, I will I when I wrote the song I cried, you know, so like, that was my time. And I and I remember having a pep talk, you know, with myself like I'm there for them. I don't need to cry. I don't need to make anybody else cry anymore. Having said that, I think at my mother's funeral and I sang it my with a song I wrote and I'm saying that another close friend's funeral. A couple actually. And in all of those situations, I was very emotional, which I'm told made that made it better. I don't believe them. I think we're just making me feel better. But yeah, I get wrapped up and totally understand what you mean. Like the only time I've ever not done that was the all that you see. And that's because I, you know, kind of for sports myself that the other the other times I was, I don't want to say victim, but I was a survivor, you know, felt more like the survivor and the people that attacked so I like, yeah,

Randy Hulsey  52:29

you know, I would think I might agree with what the people said, you know, that it shows it shows a vulnerable side and it shows an emotional side. And I was telling Paul in my interview with him, the one I'm a I'm a big YouTube junkie and now I'm always searching for great new artists and stuff on the internet. It's not necessarily all just music, but one of the videos that I had stumbled across was Vince Gill playing at George Jones funeral with I think it was Patty Patty loveless I don't know if you've seen it, but the poor guy just he cracks. I mean, he can't he can't she sings his parts for him because he's just I don't know, you know, it's just in I think that that made it even more powerful for me to see that side of him. And knowing what his relation with seeing what his relationship was with George Jones, I would tend to agree with them with what they were saying. We're going to take another listen to a song off the record and this one's called closer to the moon

53:37

that's all right. Wake me up when you see me asleep he saw Ray's shot through my window. No, it's fine to spend the day with you. We can have tea for to Just Dance all day with me. We can go to the bar with gasoline back home for dogs he says to me he posts it to the side in another day when you say just asked me

Randy Hulsey  54:56

so that one is the song there for me. I had sent that to my daughter, Hannah, a couple of nights ago. And I said, You need to listen to this song. This is Matt shank from Orlando, and I'm going to have him on my show. And I have to assume you're writing that for your daughter. But even if you weren't writing that for your daughter, it made me think of my daughter when I listened to it. And it was very powerful and very emotional. For me. Was that indeed written for your daughter? Or there's somebody else in mind there?

55:31

Yes, it was for my daughter. We were driving home. And I think she was four, four years old, maybe three, probably four. And we're driving down it was one of those gigantic Harvest Moons that looks like it's just sitting like fake looks like it's sitting on the road. And she said, Daddy, will you take me closer to the moon? And I said, we four more blocks closer because then we'll be home.

Randy Hulsey  55:56

But that's about

55:59

that's about it. But at the stoplight at the stoplight, I wrote down closer to the moon. Because Daddy, we can because we're just like, Oh my God, I'll take a few more blocks. But I will definitely write a song about that at some point. It actually was two years after that. And I in going back to what we were talking about. I was playing piano. And I came up with a piano part. And as soon as I came up with piano part, I was like, Oh, this is that song. I never rushed it. This is that closer to the moon song. And I kind of knew it right away. And as you know, in this line of work, I was gone a lot at night, and starting to put him to bed very, very often. And so that's kind of how that that song came to be. And that wasn't all sad. Because Because I work nights I probably spent more time with my kids and a lot of people do during the day. So but yeah, that's how that came about. And and actually on that in the breakdown part that after the bridge is is actually my daughter singing with me on on that. And so and I guess that was we determined that was what, eight years ago? Yep. So she was eight years old. She'll be driving her car next week.

Matt Shenk  57:09

Well, even at that age, she had a beautiful had beautiful tone in her voice. And that's awesome. And I figured that that was written about your daughter I of course I assumed but it's interesting that you said that you had the idea. She She said can you take me closer to the moon and you write it down and then some time water under the bridge? sometime down the line? You're packing on the on the piano and marry the two together? And of course it sounds like that was what a year or two later or was that?

57:42

Yeah, at least two years? Yeah, at least two years later. And yeah, it was one of those things we were talking about before whether the music or the the words first I think that was one of those things. It was both. It was like I had the idea and the song title and and I of course probably came home I don't remember specifically, but I'm sure when she said that and I wrote it down I'm sure that night I I immediately went in and tried to force it. And nothing came about it. And I was like, Well, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna ruin a great title. So I waited until it just kind of came to me. And that's what happened in that case.

Randy Hulsey  58:13

Well, if you guys get a chance, I'll make sure that I linked this when we when we air this interview, I'll make sure that there's links to all this music and again, I love all the songs first and foremost, but that one took on a special meaning for me and I love it. So so we want to talk stage gear. You know, being a musician myself, I like to know what others play and how they they get their sound. Talk to me a little bit about do you have a working guitar? Like? Is there one that does all your solo gigs or do you take multiples and you mix it up? Is it a mood thing? I'm going to play the song so I need that guitar? Or is it just one and you go

58:57

my favourite subject my guitar other than my kids and my wife, sir. So my guitar my gigging main gigging guitar is a 1993 Taylor 914. And I did not buy that guitar fan of mine that used to come hear me play, who became a friend of mine, when he passed away, he left me that guitar. And I mean, as you know, cuz you're a Taylor guy. Nine fourteens are not very, very expensive. Yes. And so I would have never been able to afford that when I when he gave that to me. So I didn't play it out. I actually had a 410 COA that I played out all the time. And then I had to have that repaired. So I took that one. And actually, I think it was his, one of his old girlfriends was there that night? She said, Why don't you play it all the time? It sounds so amazing. And I was like, Well, you know, I don't want to ruin it. I want to beat it up and she's like, he would totally want you to ruin it. He would totally put you to beat it up. And for that to be an insult. Since that day, and that was over 10 years ago, that is the first guitar and any other guitar players because that was either being worked on or I broke a string and just want to grab another one. It has a fishman pickup an old one, there is no volume knob, there is no tone knob. And I plugged that thing straight into my mixer, and put a little reverb on it and EQ it. And that's it. Really. And yeah, and people up all the time are like, what are you running that thing through? And I'm like, I'm not like I, that. That's the sound of it. Just

Randy Hulsey  1:00:36

it's a great guitar. What it what a great I mean, I could I could think of worst gifts to get from somebody from

1:00:43

the funny part of that story is he? He was pretty poor. And he didn't have anything all he had was that guitar. And to bullmastiffs dog. I don't know if you know what a bullmastiff basically a monster. It's like a gigantic bear. And so his one best friend, which was me got the guitar and the other one got the tool to bullmastiffs. So think.

Randy Hulsey  1:01:06

Wow, yeah, well, you know, that guitar is gonna long Outlast a dog and what a lot of people don't realize with a great tone would guitar, like a tailor or Martin. I mean, we could go on and on in this subject. But the more you play them and the older they get, the better they sound, the more that tone would opens up. I mean that that guitar will sound better 20 years from now than it did the day it was bought in and a lot of people don't understand that. They're like, why would anybody spend four grand on a, you know, a guitar and it's, for that reason I rails, it's gonna last you forever, it's something that I could literally play until my dying day. I mean, it's gonna, it's gonna be just great as great than as it was the day, you know, I bought it. And, you know, I'm a you're a little I'm a little more extreme there. So I spent some time I for the, for the, for the listeners, I had just showed Matt through the video session, tailor tattoo on my forearm, but the whole the whole left arm just so you know, is a it's a music theme. And there's a couple of inspirational bands to me that are incorporated into that sleeve and I'm a big Taylor player. I consulted for Taylor guitars for a couple of years with a local reseller here in Houston. So I'm all about the Taylor. We also did some consulting around the Martin line as well. It just so happened that my mentor was a big Taylor player. So I thought it only made sense for me to be a Taylor player as well. So a great taste in guitars. My my working guitar is an 814 C with Indian rosewood on the on the back and sides and the Sitka spruce on the top and, man I just I love it. I've looked at other guitars like callings that are made out of Austin, Texas. Heck, I've even looked at I think Mitch Corbin makes a lot his own line of guitar as well. Oh, yeah. I've

1:03:09

been trying, trying to get him to make me guitar. And he won't, he won't

Randy Hulsey  1:03:13

do it. We'll have to get him

1:03:18

he just didn't have the time. Actually had the 814 year same guitar. I have that as well. Okay. And, and I actually had bought that one. That is the best playing guitar. Like if I'm want to play and that one doesn't go out of the house, except for a backup because it's pristine. Yeah. And so I've kind of kept that. But yeah, great guitar. I mean, I have yet to find one that plays better than that thing.

Randy Hulsey  1:03:43

It's interesting because I wanted to baby that thing forever and never take it out of the house to play. And I said, Wait a minute. I spent money on a great guitar. Why not? Why not go make some money and entertain people with it. And if you are here in my studio, and this is not all the guitars I own but the top three that you can't really see there. There's three Taylor's up there one's a 12 string, my eight fourteens up there and then I have a big baby hanging up there but they're all right down below the the pit guard is starting to look like a Willie Nelson guitar because I've just I guess it's my picking technique where my maybe my middle finger hits, you know, hits the top. And I've just, I've dug into every one of them. And so it doesn't look pristine anymore. It sounds amazing. But it doesn't look pristine anymore. Right but I have taken care of the guitar short of just that blemish on all of them. There's no dents or anything I make sure that that thing is tucked away. Before and after every show for sure. I will say that I have one pedal for the guitar that I play through. It is a It's made by tc helicon. And it's called a body Rez. And I believe it was like a $99 pedal. And for people that are familiar listeners that are familiar with plugging a really nice high end tonewood guitar into a PA, sometimes without mixing it and everything it strips the beauty of that sound out when it when it's coming through the speaker and what that body Rez pedal does is puts that tonewoods sound back into the PA and makes it sound just like you're playing it completely unplugged. And I was telling my guest Robin Shane, who's the female musician out of Austin, you know, we were having a little tech talk around the gear and she's like, I don't know anything about any of that. I just play the guitar. And I said, and that's okay. I mean, a lot of people are not into that kind of thing. But for those that are looking for just that quality sound that you get with, you know, just play an unplugged trying to put that back in the mix that that body Rez pedal is phenomenal in that. That's kind of a segue into pedals in general. So I'm assuming I know that you use some type of pedal because your Facebook Live, you are doing some looping. So can you talk to me a little bit about that. And pedal and specific to solo shows? Is that a pedal that you carry with you in your arsenal to do your solo shows?

1:06:31

Yeah, I actually, my looper is a POS RC 50. And so it's basically like three loopers and one that can sync up. I do actually have another pedal that I use. And it has an I don't I'm probably used it in that live stream. And it's a Avast as well. And it's just a small effects processing pedal that has a expression pedal on it. And so and I basically use that for the wah on it because I incorporate acoustic now with my watch or just for a little something different and and then I will also use that when I play my strat. You know, when we do band stuff, I'll use that. But it's very minimal. I'm, I am not a pedal guy. I was when my hard rock days, but now it's just too much to get into. It's so confusing. So, but my my Looper pedal is probably it's like my guitar. Those two things go hand in hand now and I, I think we talked about I used I use tracks for years and years and years. And then I just started using a loop pedal and I think more for enjoyment for myself. Yes. And I, I have a blast with it. So yeah, that's all really the only pedals I use. Well, I

Randy Hulsey  1:07:51

think as solo artists too. I mean, I think most people expect that you are just that you're a solo artist, it's you and the guitar, there's only going to be so much production that you can get out of one guy and one acoustic guitar without all the effects. So I think I have a couple of pedals that I use. And really, it's it's probably just to add a just a little bit more than just, he's another solo guy and they all sound the same. It's just, I'm always searching for that. That great sound because I am just a solo artist and I don't have cool drum beats and a nice bass guitar and the rhythm section and rhythm guitar playing over me and so I try to make it as full as I possibly can. And I have a couple of pedals in my arsenal that does that from pa perspective solo shows what's the go to PA?

1:08:44

Well, I'm blessed and almost all my shows have house pa out of Disney and House of Blues. So I basically I have a Mackie little Mackie pro FX a channel that has you know, reverb on it and a seven band EQ. And I run through that and then run straight out of that now there are some gigs that I have that I have to run my own PA and I have to set I have the qf C's the powered que se eight and which sound I have not heard anything that sounds better than those things for the for the size of them. I can't even believe that what comes out of them, and they're easy to carry around. And then I have some old Evie powered EVs that are 15 speakers in the sound that are monsters that sound great, but the older I get, the less I can whip those on a stand it you know winds up being too much. So usually I only bring those out if I'm doing a band gig. So pretty much it's just as qf C's and a little Mackie mixer.

Randy Hulsey  1:09:50

Yeah, the truth comes out about our age for sure. I don't know how old you are but not getting up there but it's sling in that gear gets a little tougher with every show and I've had so many people say, Gosh, dang, for a solo guy, you sure do carry a lot of stuff around. And it's just I can't, you know, you talked about OCD, it's just I can't help it, I've got to have the right sound, am I the best performer on the planet? Far from it, I'm the most humbled musician in the world. But I do try to have the best sound and tone that I possibly can and a show. So I tend to pack a little, a little heavy. Sometimes I found out about two years ago, before COVID, I was asked to play a festival here, where I live in Cypress, Texas. And I think there were probably 3000 people or so that came through the gate that day. So I found that the little two channel Fishman that I was using in my normal shows, was not near enough to get sound pushed out. So I bought the the AV 50 that's sitting over in the corner, kind of along the Bose line, and that thing will get the job done there. So I've been really happy with it. Sometimes I pair the two up, depending on the room that I'm playing in. I'll put them side by side, you know, one on left one on right. So it really just depends on the room, I usually won't tote that because the sub is so heavy. Unless it's a pretty big room to feel that Fishman works really nice for that. We talked about solo, tell me about the band, who were the members of the band. And where did you find the people that are playing with you right now?

1:11:34

Well, first off, I'll start with Jimmy see my bass player. And we mentioned earlier talking about photographer at that first big show I did. He was actually the bass player for the headliner. And he walked up to me and complimented me on my may be able to hold the stage by myself. And I said to him, like man, I hope one day to have a bass player like you. Well, he wound up being my bass player, and you know, and he's been that for 15 years. For band stuff. He is we call him Sarge, he was in the army. And he I am. I'm not very hard. And I don't like to like tell people in order I'm around and even if it's my show or whatever, I just not good at it. Sure. And he gets and so he's my Enforcer. Okay, so he basically yells at everybody and tells them what they're doing wrong. And

Randy Hulsey  1:12:24

he's the he's the ringleader, right. The ring leader. Yeah,

1:12:28

he's the one that corrects himself. But he is a phenomenal phenomenal bass player. So and then my drummer right now is a guy named Aaron John. He is also amazingly talented. Any, any is a great harmony singer, which is when I heard him playing with somebody else. I said to my wife, like I got to get that guy like. So we do a lot of shows with home, he plays a home instead of a drum set, which enables him to sing harmonies a little bit better. And he's got, you know, a shaker shaker on his foot and a stomp pedal and, and a spinomenal. And then we recently right before COVID, about a year before COVID I've been wanting a violin, okay, just for something different. I wanted to be a female, because I wanted a female voice to sing. And so ironically, we'll go back to Mitch Corbin, on our between gigs at Disney. I asked him Did he know anybody? And he said, Yes. Matter of fact, I do any. And he was telling me about this girl who was on tour with John Anderson from Yes, yep. And her name is Jocelyn Chu. And I said, Well, if she's on tour with John Anderson, she's not gonna be interesting coming to play for me when she's done with the tour. It's like I never have. So I reached out to her on Facebook. And she happened to one of the percussionist also happened to know me. So she said, Yeah, I'd love to when I come back. And so I sent her my album with water and she wrote back, I love it. I love to be a part of it. And Agusta granted, she is classically trained, like she does. You mentioned a rock song. And she's never heard of it. Like I mean, every classic rock song she had never even heard of. So, which sometimes makes it hard. But a lot of times it's actually good because sometimes ignorance is bliss in that situation. Absolutely. But man, she caught on so fast. It is fun. When we do bad stuff. I will just sit there and I don't I take about half the guitar solos I used to take because I just go you do it. Like I'd rather just sit back and listen to you play your violent.

Randy Hulsey  1:14:31

Well, that's a testament to you should always ask the question because you never know the answer. You never know the and it made me think I had a friend of mine asked me about the podcast and whatnot. And I said, you know, I've actually got three guys already lined up to do my show who are international. I mean, they were international superstars. I'm not going to give it away here but something but one of the bands open for love. Boy back in 83, in the summit and and here in Houston. And they're like, how did you get those guys, you're just starting your podcast and I said, I reached out and asked them, like and told him that I'm a fan. And I've been a fan for a long time. And I would love to talk to you about your music, and to try to get it in the hands of some people that have maybe never heard it. And likewise, with, you know, get you on the show, I think that the music was great. And my ears, I love what I was here. And I think that that's a gift that a lot of people don't have. And I wanted to make sure that my listeners are able to know who you are and where you are and how they find you. And all of that good stuff. You have to ask the question sometime. And maybe the answer is not favorable. But that's okay. You just keep asking it. And you you know, eventually you'll, you'll find the right people for the show or for your band, or whatever the case may be. So are all of the band members? Are they all? Do they all hail from the Florida area? Are they from all over the country? Do you Do you even know where all of them hail from?

1:16:07

I believe Aaron, my drummer is from Philly. Jimmy is I believe from Savannah, Georgia. And I Jocelyn, I know she was born in the state. And her family's from I believe China. And I'm not sure where she was born. But I want to say it was in Florida. But yeah, I think I think I got that right. I could be wrong. So

Randy Hulsey  1:16:31

Gotcha. And what would you say the solo show to band ratio is

1:16:38

nine to 199, solo gigs to one. Now that's going to change again, because as of April, House of Blues is allowing us to have the band back again. So that would be once a week we'll be able to have the band, which I'm really looking forward to that.

Randy Hulsey  1:16:54

I know that they're not comparable, because Solo was solo and band is band, they both have different fields. But if you put them both on a balance scale of justice, which way would it tip? I mean, do you really enjoy doing solo stuff over band and nothing against the people in the band? Of course, this is not what this question is getting after. But sometime you know, like me, a lot of people say you should you should get in a band. I mean, you sing you play your multi instrumentalist. I'm done with the bands like that ship has that ship sailed a long time ago, and I'm not interested in that anymore. So for me the balance scale of justice tips. It's like 9010 kind of thing. I think it would be cool to be in a band again, but I just don't want all the baggage that goes along with it. So I didn't know how you felt about on that balance scale of justice. Where does that solo versus band rank for you?

1:17:50

Well, I could probably answer that in two different ways. There's something about this solo gig I do. I'm uncomfortable, I know what I'm doing. I'm not worried, I'm not second guessing things unless you know, my voice is trashed or something like that. I know what I'm gonna do pretty much on the other side. Like, when I'm with the band, I am, I'm able to, like enjoy watching them. And I also have always had, I never, I never typically have just an acoustic idea in my head. What's In My Head is usually full fledged production. Like when I come up with an idea, I hear the baseline, I hear a piano aligner, Oregon, the drum beat I hear all that in my head. So having that be able to come out. You know, live is like something I just, I really love now. I'm told by my wife and several other people that have come to see me a lot. They love the band. But they say there's something different. When I'm by myself, that is more intimate, more vulnerable, more like a connection between me and everybody in the audience. So I tip and I hate to say it like I I typically probably do better solo than I do with the band as far as a performer goes. But I probably have way more fun with the band.

Randy Hulsey  1:19:18

Yeah. And in the band, you know, you can play off each other if you're with a great bunch of musicians. I mean, you can just go off on a tangent like it doesn't even have to be rehearse. It's just like, Okay, we're lucky have he and okay, just solo for a while over a year and everybody just knows what to do. And it's, it's a magical thing. But the Solo is the solo. Performance to me, is a person that's putting themselves out there that's making themselves vulnerable and their soul is coming right through the middle of that guitar, right to the person listening to it. And to me, that's where I fell in love with the acoustic guitar. I can remember I was in the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana. Anna, gosh, I don't know how long ago it was 3030 some odd years ago. And it I don't remember chronologically if I was already playing the guitar at the time, you know, I started out on the piano, but maybe it was somewhere in there, I don't remember. But I can remember walking down the street. And there was a raggedy old dude that looked like he probably lived on the streets of New Orleans. And he had a guitar case broke open on the, on the street. And he was busking, right, and look like he hadn't had a bath and a month. And he was playing sweet baby James by James Taylor. And from that moment on, it's like whole, I mean, it just, it hit me like in it in it resignated. And I said, I gotta go buy an acoustic guitar. And that's kind of what started it for me. So I believe that it's while there's not as much production and sound that comes out of an acoustic guitar, you get something with an acoustic and a vocalist that you don't, you won't ever get with a full band.

1:21:00

Absolutely. And I think that's probably what happens is just my, my songs, specifically, I think they present has I wrote them, which is vulnerable, and emotional. And I think they can hear that, you know, without the sound of the drums going on, and the bass and all that stuff. That's probably why so, like I said, I sure do love jamming with the band. Yeah, just for fun.

Randy Hulsey  1:21:24

And I missed that too. I don't disagree with you, I missed that too. I just, if you if you wait it all out. It's just like, I don't know, if I want the commitment of practicing with the band, you know, a couple of nights a week, right? And most of them, most of them are trying to make a living doing it. They want to get three or four nights a week. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's, I got a 40 hour, a week job that I go to still that pays my mortgage. So I mean, I have to, I have to draw the line somewhere. You talked about Disney Springs talked about the House of Blues, where are some other places in and around the Orlando area that people can find you are those, the only two places that you're playing now, like me, I'm a resident artist here in the Houston area at like, eight different places where they booked me a year in advance. So I kind of like, like in January, I just set my calendar. And I'm done for the whole year. And I know exactly where the gigs are the ones I want. And I don't take on anymore. So I didn't know, if you it sounds like Disney Springs, your resident, your resident at House of Blues is there any others that you play constantly that book you in advance?

1:22:34

Those are my main gigs. And I do, I'm out there probably four times three to four times a week just out at Disney Springs and House of Blues. And then I also play some hotels that I play the Ritz Carlton Hotel once a month, typically, sometimes twice a month. A couple other hotels I play out at Hard Rock Cafe at Universal Studios, that seems to have gone away a little bit. And then the band we play at the place called the new standard, which is an incredible music venue. unlike anything we have in town, so I play there that's that's pretty much it. There's just not enough nowadays to add anything else anymore.

Randy Hulsey  1:23:15

Well, the beauty of it is it sounds like the Disney between Disney Springs and the House of Blues they keep you employed almost a full week for that one. And I didn't realize that they were booking you that that frequently. But that's I mean, that's awesome that that you have something like that lined up, I've always been of the mindset if I can just get people you know, I had to go and of course prove myself to all these places that take me on as a as a resident artists, because they they don't want a crappy musician I don't think playing in their establishment. So you know, it took a while to to gain that trust, like Randy's on time Randy plays and shows up and he's never, you know, he treats our customers with, like his own customers. And they're, I mean, there's a lot that goes into that to regain that you're booking but I've worked really hard over time to maintain those relationships and I'm the kind of guy that just I don't want all of the administrative work that goes along with being a musician, I want to put it on the calendar, and I'm done. I don't want to call and I booked my own shows I don't know about you guys or if you're using a booking agent or how you do yours, but I'm the booking agent, the sound guy, the player and the accountant all all together. I don't have the luxury of other people helping me that sling gear and all that kind of stuff.

1:24:40

Yeah, I I'm pretty much that I have an agent that pay for some stuff but my whole my main gigs are booked through me and and like you said, it's great to know that they're there. You know, we actually do contracts with Disney. So, you know, you're going to be there a certain amount of time, you know, through the year you know, barring a International pandemic.

Randy Hulsey  1:25:01

Sure. Absolutely. And then all bets are off then I guess, right. So where can the listeners find Matt on social media specifically?

1:25:10

Well, Facebook and Instagram are Matt shank music. If you just search med shank music on either one of those, you'll find them. I believe Twitter is just Matt shank one or something like that. I'm not on there very often, I think something pushes through it through there. And but generally speaking, if you go to Matt shank Comm, you can find all that stuff, all the social media is on there, as well as my calendar on on where I'm playing. My, my Matt shank music Facebook page, still has all of those live streams that I did during, you know, thick of COVID, which was over, you know, almost eight to nine months. And there's I think there's one there just about every month, and a couple of times a couple of too much. Actually, I was going to tell you, you were talking about you enjoy knowing what the songs are about. I did actually a studio session, live stream where I just I did that I I talked about all my original songs before I played them. I really enjoyed that. And then my fans really love that too. Yeah, I think there's probably all the social media lies. You know, I'm on Spotify and Apple Music and Pandora, and what any other ones are probably not even familiar with.

Randy Hulsey  1:26:23

Walk me back real quick before I forget my thought you mentioned the storyteller episode that you did. What? Is that still out there somewhere? And is there any way that you can send me a link to that? If you would be I will find it. That would be awesome. Because I would I would really like to share that with some folks and point them to that. We know the streaming the iTunes and Spotify, the Pandora's is there some place the listeners can go to purchase a CD from you instead of just live stream or just streaming it from from one of those outlets?

1:26:59

Yeah, it used to be CD Baby was my distributor. And at that I don't believe they're carrying the physical CDs. And they might have some of them left. And they were said they would sell them. So they can check that. If not, they can just reach out through me through my website. And I'll handle all that myself.

Randy Hulsey  1:27:17

Okay, and I'll say to my listeners, if you go out to iTunes or Spotify, listen to Matt's music, and you're interested in purchasing that to give to somebody or whatnot. certainly reach out to me, and I'll make sure that you guys get pointed in the right direction, for sure. And is there I guess, is there a particular artist that you would recommend being on this podcast? I mean, I've learned some great stuff about you. And I can't wait to edit this podcast down and share it with a whole new slew of people. But is there a recommendation that you would give like somebody that you think I need to have on the show to get to know their music and whatnot?

1:28:03

Well, my my, my instinct would just to say Mitch Corbin, which I said, which we talked about earlier, he's got so many stories, and from over the years, and he's played with so many, so many incredible people. If I were going to name somebody else that might be maybe a little bit more known that I believe that we talked I think you asked me before about, you know, some people I think that I listened to that you might not know and thought about later, Martin Sexton I don't know if you're familiar with Martin Sexton. He's another one. And he probably be an amazing guest. On your show. He did live streams from his house during COVID. And I've seen him several times when he's come through town. And he's I think he would really love him because he's, he's all about the guitar and his voice. And he's a great storyteller.

Randy Hulsey  1:28:52

Well, I'll definitely look him up. And it's interesting that you said Mitch Corbin, silly me, I didn't even think of reaching out to Mitch and asking him to be on the show. When I sat down and started making a guest list. It was a it was a real quick brainstorm. Okay, I think I want this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy, this girl, whatever. And then something jogged my memory about the the, I don't even remember. What made me think of you. I mean, of course, I saw the, the Facebook Lives and everything, but something jumped in my brain. And I said, Okay, well, I got to get mad on the show. And then it's like, well, gee, I forgot about Mitch. And he's the one that kind of teed me up and made the introduction to you. So yeah, I would love to have Mitch on the show. And if I'm not mistaken, wasn't Mitch playing guitar for Suzy Bogguss. At one time, do I have that fact? Correct. I

1:29:47

think you I think you might be right. He's played for so many different people. And I mean, he plays he plays guitar and violin turtle and probably a bunch of other things. I don't know about scope, but he's just such a super I want to guy and funny and sweet and kind and and he has got his he got story. I bet

Randy Hulsey  1:30:06

he does. I mean he has to be a nice guy to put up with guys like me who sit out in the audience and mark out 50,000 requests during their on a show and is able to play just about every dang one of them that you yell out. And that was that was probably the most impressive and I get requests all the time. And some I know some I don't know, some I know but don't have never even tried to play like I know the songs but I don't know, necessarily wrote up how to play them and I certainly don't want to do a bad rendition of any song so I would probably kindly decline. But, man I think I think I probably in all honesty, I probably barked out six or seven songs to him and it was just like, oh, yeah, not a problem. I'll do that when I'll do that. And when you're when you're good, you're good, right? So let's do some quick fire questions and I'm gonna let you get on with your evening the first one here is Beatles or the stones Beatles, Van Halen, or Hendrix, Van Halen summer or winter

1:31:14

being in Florida on have to go with winter.

Randy Hulsey  1:31:18

They always say you want what you can't have right? Well after after the brutal beating that we just got here and in the Houston area for the winter storm, I was a winter guy too. Until that happened. And now it's like, okay, maybe I need to rethink that. But anyway, TV or radio, radio, perfect vacation for the shank family. Preferably why? No flat tires? Of course. Right. No.

1:31:47

Yeah, the mountain, the mountain or the beach. But yeah, mountain.

Randy Hulsey  1:31:52

Is there. Is there a particular mountain range that you have in mind when you say the mountains or just the mountains in general?

1:31:58

Are our closest ones are the Blue Ridge so we can get there with you know, eight hours or so. I do love the Rockies though. Man. I do love the Rockies.

Randy Hulsey  1:32:08

How about acoustic or electric? Acoustic? Stay in or go out?

1:32:15

After COVID Go out? Yeah.

Randy Hulsey  1:32:19

About rocker rocker country. Rock. Early Bird or night owl? Early Bird. There you go. You have a favorite place to play. And you can plead the fifth on that. I tell all my guests that because we don't want to have one. One place we play feel inferior to the other. So now, House of Blues. Well, that's certainly a staple venue. I mean, everybody's heard a House of Blues. Well, everybody's heard of Disney too. Of course. Right? If you haven't heard of Disney, then something's wrong with you. But yeah, House of Blues that's probably synonymous with that's where the the names go to play. So how about favorite song to play live solo and with the band. Since your since you're both? Is there any one song that sticks out in your mind that your favorite to play live to cover? Anything?

1:33:16

Yeah, I'll make it a cover that would I would say with a band. We do a mash up of safe tonight by EagleEye cherry and all along the Watchtower. And we just have a blast in a pretty pretty big jam. Acoustically. My favorite song would probably be either fast car. And I'll just go fast car or what a wonderful world by the way. Armstrong love that song. Yeah. And

Randy Hulsey  1:33:46

I think the Tracy Chapman song there fast cars lends itself really nice to your, I guess your percussive nature of playing the acoustic? Yeah, correct. So formal training or play by ear.

Matt Shenk  1:34:01

Kind of both. I added an incredible guitar teacher Chris Jorgensen for the first three years of playing guitar when I was a teenager. And then once he moved away, I just kind of went off by myself and went by ear and kind of do it using what he gave me. But that was pretty much it.

Randy Hulsey  1:34:20

This isn't one of the quickfire questions, but are there any regrets around? Not having studied the guitar more I live with that all the time of Yeah, I'm good enough to go out and you know, play shows and put it all together and make it sound good. But if you put me next to some of the people that I'll have on this show, I'm like a dumb dumb guitarist right. I'm the dummies dumb guitarist. And I've never made the statement that I was a wonderful guitar. It's I just know how to kind of put it all together to make it work, but I've always lived with that. Wish I was a better lead player. Wish I was more technical. And I didn't know if you've kind of felt, I think as a musician, we probably all feel that way that we were never good enough, right? So you specifically Oh,

Matt Shenk  1:35:08

well, there's always someone better no matter who you are. Yeah. But yeah, I regret not. I regret not like going to school for it and getting as much knowledge as I can about music in general. I believe that would have helped me but then I also fall in the line of you know, I'm where I'm supposed to be and where God new universe wanted me to be in Sure. Maybe doing that I would have burned out not enjoyed it or went in the wrong direct notes. So what what I've read, I'm very grateful for where I am for sure.

Randy Hulsey  1:35:41

Well, you're blessed as an artist because and I think we both are. I don't think that musics a competition. But I think if I compared myself to you, I'm I'm nowhere. I don't I guess I'm just a humble musician. And I never think that I'm great. But we both have gifts that a lot of people don't have. And that's that's a certainly a blessing to have those gifts and be able to share those in song. There's nothing better than a three and a half minute story through the hands and the voice of somebody that does it. Well. How about number one influential musician or band? Yeah, man, do we have all night?

1:36:23

That is really tough. I probably should have we should have prepared me for that. No, I you know what? I buddy quickfire. Yeah,

Randy Hulsey  1:36:31

my buddy told me one of my buddies. When I told him I was putting together a podcast. He does. He has a couple of them. He does a tech sell show. That was his line of work. And he's also a pilot who owns a flight school here in the area that I live in. And he told me Don't tell your listeners what you're gonna ask him because it because then it sounds really scripted. Like, oh, you planned it all. You wrote it all down and everything. And you know, I just wanted it to come from the heart. So in and I know that that's, that's a tough one, but answer it the best way.

1:37:10

I'll say Billy Joel, just because he was the first singer songwriter I listened to as a kid that grabbed my attention and made me think I want to do that. Yeah. So yeah, I'll say Billy Joel,

Randy Hulsey  1:37:24

the bride in New York, Billy Joel. He was he was he's one of my favorites of all time as well. How about greatest song of all time? Hallelujah. I had somebody my my, the first guest on my show, said Amazing Grace. And it's every every everybody knows. And I guess I was expecting something different from him. But I mean, it certainly makes sense to me. And then I guess the the last one greatest podcast on the internet,

1:38:00

this one?

Matt Shenk  1:38:03

That's that's the funny question there. Anyway, I want to thank you, Matt, for taking the time. I know you have a lot going on family and music career. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me and the new listeners that I hope will come out of this for for you and and what you do. As always, I asked the listeners to like, share, and subscribe to the show. And I asked you to do the same for Matt. And also, if you can do a review on the show that would be extremely helpful. And also don't forget to follow Matt on all of his social media platforms and certainly continue to stream his music. Also, if you're in the Orlando and surrounding areas, make sure to go and support Matt in person and tell him that backstage pass radio sent you. And I want to thank you guys again for tuning in. And as a reminder, you can follow the show on Facebook at backstage pass radio podcast, on Instagram at backstage pass radio on Twitter at backstage pass PC. And then of course you can find us on backstage pass. radio.com You guys stay safe and healthy again, Matt. Thanks for joining me here. And thank you for tuning in to Backstage Pass radio.

Adam Gordon  1:39:19

Thanks so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed today's episode of backstage pass radio. Make sure to follow Randy on Facebook and Instagram at Randy Hulsey music and on Twitter at our Halsey music. Also make sure to like, subscribe and turn on alerts for upcoming podcasts. If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to share the link with a friend and tell them backstage pass radio is the best show on the web for everything music. We'll see you next time right here on backstage pass radio