Matt Stell

 

WEST TENNESSEE VAPORS & APOTHECARY in Dyersburg, Brownsville, & Jackson brings you MATT STELL!

51 Bypass in Dyersburg /// 2256 N Washington in Brownsville // 100 Vann Drive just off Highland by the fire station in Jackson

 

 

MATT STELL at Hub City Brewing in Jackson

Saturday, April 23rd, 7:00 PM - 11:30 PM

with special guest George Birge

Purchase tickets here: mattsjackson.eventbrite.com

 

The country music industry has long been filled with its share of characters. From Willie to Hank and Dolly to Waylon, every legend starts out as just another artist that doesn’t fit easily into some predetermined box. And as hard as country music may try to fit Matt Stell into one of those tried and true boxes, it’s darn near impossible. Heck, he’s 6’7.

But more so than the massive physique that helped Stell become a collegiate basketball standout, the Platinum-certified singer has proven via the songs he sings and the shows he puts on that he is far too powerful of an artist to ever fit into some sort of singular category. In fact, to describe Stell in a few words would be a complete disservice to the man he is and the artist he looks to become on his new EP, Better Than That.

“If you cut a groove too deep, it’s hard to get out of it,” he remarks with a chuckle. “I’ve never wanted to be some one-dimensional artist, and with this new EP, I think I’m determined to show that there is much more to me than just a guy who can sing a love song.”

Indeed, the Arkansas native comes from a long line of self-proclaimed badasses. He can spin a romantic verse as easily as he can rock out an anthem. He can overanalyze a word as easily as he can let the melody ride a lyrical wave. And yes, he gets as much enjoyment out of discovering a hook in the writing room as he does hooking a fish.

“When you step out into that river and the salmon are still swimming upstream as they have for thousands of years, it’s a real cathartic, therapeutic thing for me,” he says of a recent fishing trip to Alaska. “It’s a great reset.”

In everything he does, it’s evident that Stell is reflective and adventurous and funny and pretty damn smart. And if he’s being totally honest with himself, he’s never been one to love a love song.

Yep, you heard that right.

Granted, it was in fact a love song that catapulted Stell to country music success in 2019 via his massive hit “Prayed for You,” a life-changer of a song that spent two weeks at the number one spot. As the only debut single to top Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in 2019, and one of NSAI’s “10 Songs We Wish We’d Written,” the hit has gone on to rack up some impressive stats with over 270 million streams, his first RIAA platinum certification and more than 20 million views of its official music video to date.

But there’s a catch.

“If the only thing you’ve heard is ‘Prayed for You,’ you would have a different idea of who I really am,” Stell explains. “Knowing that you are making music that means something to people is the ultimate compliment, but there is so much more to me.”

A few more of the many facets of Stell are on display in his Gold-certified second #1 single “Everywhere But On,” a song that Stell calls ‘autobiographical’ in the way that it tells the story of a man trying to escape the memories of a long lost love.

“Having two songs on the radio is an incredible thing, but what’s even more incredible is finding your own voice and your own identity,” he says.

Stell showcased a whole bunch of identities in another Better Than That EP standout - “If I Was a Bar.” At a time when some of his fellow artists were perfectly content in simply sitting down with their guitar and playing their songs during the pandemic that Stell lovingly refers to as a ‘damn biological hurricane,’ Stell and his rather relentless work ethic turned out a music video that had him playing thirteen different roles in the span of a 3-plus minute song.

“I threw every stitch of clothing I have ever owned into my truck for that video shoot,” laughs Stell of the somewhat restrictive project. “Sometimes creativity benefits from constraints.”

Yet, there were few constraints on Stell’s songwriting during the creation of the new Better Than That EP, which was co-produced by Stell alongside Ash Bowers. Via songs co-written by Stell such as “I Love You Too,” “Chase It Down” and the title track “Better Than That,” the listener can still hear Stell’s distinctive way of wrapping a lyric around memory and the twist he can put on a phrase.

“Songwriting is a craft that can get better the more time you put into it,” remarks Stell, as he laments to himself about how much he hates clichés.

But for the first time in his still-evolving career, Stell relied on outside writers on three of the eight tracks of the Better Than That EP in an effort to fill in the blanks of the overall project.

One of those cuts is “Sadie,” a melodic brain-buster of a song that offers ‘a sparse lyric but one in which every word means something.’ Another outside cut is “Look At Me Now,” perhaps one of the most earth-shattering love songs in recent memory. Yes, the guy who says love songs aren’t his thing just might make history with yet another love song.

Stell also looked to outside writers for the surprise track, “That Ain’t Me No More,” released in Feb. 2021. Written by Hardy, Hunter Phelps, Smith Ahnquist, Jake Mitchell, and Nick Donley the rocking song has Matt delivering a fresh take on heartbreak.

But before Stell looks too far into the future, he finds his soul planted deeply in the present. He is praying for the day he can plug his amp back in and jump on the bus with his band and play these new songs for a live crowd.

This new chapter in his journey leaves Stell with a whole bunch more ammunition in the writing room and a unique vantage point to view the characters in his songs…and the character he might ultimately turn out to be.

 

George Birge

Sometimes the simplest of titles have the most captivating backstory. Listen to George Birge explain the origin of “Beer Beer, Truck Truck,” his ready-for-summer debut single.

Birge (rhymes with “merge”) was scrolling through TikTok when he came across a popular user known as Rynnstar joking that country lyrics are only about beer, trucks, and girls. Determined to prove that in the right hands even the most mundane of phrases can inspire a great song, the Texas-born, Nashville-based songwriter grabbed his guitar and wrote “Beer Beer, Truck Truck,” an up-tempo sing-along about missing the one you love and wooing them to come back. “I know the city called you, go baby spread your wings/I’ll be here waiting on you, out here in the country,” Birge sings.

“The whole point was to say that, yeah, the country lifestyle may not be as flashy or as fast-paced as the city, but there's more to it than meets the eye — and if you give me a chance, I'll show you how good it can be,” he says.

Produced by Ash Bowers, “Beer Beer, Truck Truck” blends the traditional sounds that Birge heard growing up in Austin — he was raised on George Strait and Willie Nelson — with the studio loops and effects that power country music’s modern-day hits. The result is both interesting and irresistible.

Just two weeks after he posted “Beer Beer, Truck Truck” to TikTok, his video had accumulated nearly 3 million views and his followers grew to 130,000. It also won over Rynnstar, who shared the song with her following; Birge credited her as co-writer.

“It was incredibly gratifying to see people saying, ‘I never listen to country music, but hearing this backstory and hearing how it came to life makes me a country music fan,’” he says. “Some said that’s what good songwriters can do — they can write a song out of literally anything. That made me feel really fulfilled because that was my intention.”

Now signed to the label RECORDS Nashville, Birge is gearing up to release his debut EP and build on the buzz surrounding “Beer Beer, Truck Truck.” But despite the song’s viral success, Birge isn’t a TikTok gimmick — he’s a legit songwriter with years of experience. Artists as diverse as neo-traditionalist Clay Walker and country rapper Colt Ford have cut his songs, with Walker picking Birge’s “Need a Bar Sometimes” as his new single.

“I play live music so that I can write songs and get in the studio, because that's where my passion is,” Birge says. “I love that rush you get when you find something magical.”

Birge found that magic with “Beer Beer, Truck Truck,” and he’s already looking ahead to the next story to tell. He smiles at how far two simple words have already taken him.

“I’m not a guy that's too cool for school. I just want to tell a story in a fresh way, as I heard on country radio growing up,” Birge says. “And then sit down and have a beer with whoever’s listening.”