Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Kelley
Hi Matt, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve been a lover of music for as long as I can remember, and I’ve chased that love with every fiber of my being. I started playing piano by ear at age 3, and since then, I have always dreamed of making a career as a musician and performer. Throughout my childhood, any time I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I ALWAYS said that my dream was to be onstage, singing and making music. As I grew older, I studied the rock icons of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and I would obsess over the way they sang, wrote, and performed live while I continued to hone my own musical skillset. I received classical training in piano for 7 years, and I performed any chance I could, whether it was in a local community theatre musical or at a hometown fall festival with my high school cover band. Upon entering adulthood, I began working professionally as a performer, and received my undergraduate degree in musical theatre from The University of Alabama in 2020. Though my college career was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic, it gave me the chance to dive more into my own personal artistry, and I fell more and more in love with the craft of songwriting (I’ll touch more on all of this in a later question). During this time, I decided to pivot out of my musical theatre career and dove headfirst into the music industry, and I got my start working in dueling piano shows on cruise ships and at theme parks. I moved to New York City from my small hometown in Georgia in early 2022, and I started to work full time in the city’s piano bar and wedding band scene. I kept writing my own music between gigs, and I eventually recorded and released my debut single, “me, unconditionally,” in April of 2024. The response to the single was overwhelmingly positive, and the song has amassed over 25,000 streams on Spotify in the short time since its release. Dropping my first single made me eager to put out more music, and I quickly followed up with my second single, “Trust Me (A Happy Song),” in late July. The song was an even bigger success, and it is currently sitting at just under 40,000 streams on Spotify alone, which is absolutely mind-blowing to me. Since moving to NYC and releasing my music, I have been fortunate enough to play in some of the city’s most iconic music venues, such as Brooklyn Bowl, The Bitter End, Rockwood Music Hall, Arlene’s Grocery, and Pianos, just to name a few. I’m currently staying busy putting the finishing touches on my upcoming single, “Lonely City Streets,” and planning a headlining set at Nublu NYC, my biggest show so far. I feel deeply grateful for the opportunities I have received throughout my life and music career, and I can’t wait to see where my journey continues to take me!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My journey as an artist has not been an easy one. I have struggled with intense feelings of insecurity and self-doubt for the majority of my life, and those feelings only grew stronger as I entered the music industry. There are millions of talented artists vying to be seen and heard, and I found myself playing the comparison game with so many of my peers and getting in my head about my own abilities. I have also experienced my fair share of rejections and disappointments, and while I knew that those were to be expected in such a competitive industry, it only made me doubt myself even more. I can’t count the number of times i have said to myself, “What am i doing all of this for? Is any of this even worth it?” However, I often remind myself that if I gave up on the dreams I have worked my entire life for, then I would be filled with even more regret than if I pursued those dreams wholeheartedly and came up short. I also have to remind myself that I am my own unique artist, and there is more than enough space for all types of artists to succeed in this industry. My only competition is myself, and so every time I start to compare myself to others around me, I instead push myself to work even harder and grow even more.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Above all else, I am a rock and roll musician. I mentioned this a bit in an earlier question, but I’ve always been drawn to larger-than-life classic rock icons like Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury, Bruce Springsteen, and Elton John. I love rock music’s powerful and diverse soundscapes mixed with raw and honest lyricism, and I strive to capture that unique feeling in my own music and onstage persona. It saddens me that rock music has seemingly taken a backseat to other genres in recent years, and my goal as an artist is to bring the rock and roll resurgence back to the mainstream music scene. I’m so proud of the two singles already under my belt, and I am genuinely overwhelmed that people take the time to listen to and appreciate the songs that I have written. In terms of what sets me apart from others, I strive to create a timeless quality in my music that isn’t always found in the modern music industry. So much of the current music landscape is defined by artists chasing trends in order to be seen by a social media algorithm that will pump them out to as many people as possible, and while that is certainly a way to be noticed, I’m not personally interested in that route. I don’t want to make music that is designed to fit in a certain box or exist in a certain zeitgeist. I want to make music that people will still enjoy listening to decades from now, and I want to still be doing this whole music thing when I’m 80 years old. I like to think that I possess the work ethic necessary to make that happen, and that alone makes me unique in my artistry.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
The Covid-19 pandemic reframed the way I view my life and my career in a major way, and to be honest, I probably wouldn’t even be pursuing a career as a musician if it weren’t for the experiences I had during the pandemic. While I’d always dreamed of making it as a musician, I never really had the confidence in my own abilities to actually commit to that journey. I always felt like I was an average singer and songwriter at best, and I looked at all of the amazing musicians around me and thought it almost impossible to measure up to their level of talent. Even though I didn’t feel confident enough to make my music career happen, I always knew I wanted to perform professionally in some capacity, and since I also have a deep love for acting, I decided to venture into the world of musical theatre as an “actor who sings.” That way, I would never have to rely solely on my vocal skills, and could lean into more character-heavy roles while still getting to sing a little bit. I chased this goal wholeheartedly, and even received my undergraduate degree in musical theatre from The University of Alabama. However, things took a turn when, in the final semester of my senior year, the world was hit with the Covid-19 crisis. At the time, I was prepping to head to New York City to perform in a showcase for a room full of casting directors and agents, and I already had multiple meetings with several agencies lined up for that week. Suddenly, my entire world was upended, my showcase and all of my meetings were cancelled, and I was forced to graduate college in the middle of my parents’ living room in Georgia. There was so much uncertainty regarding when the world would return to normal again, and the fate of the musical theatre industry was completely up in the air, so I started to lean more into making my own music as a sense of comfort and escape. I had just started working professionally in the dueling piano scene right before the pandemic, so I put those skills to use while stranded at home and hosted a virtual concert series live from my living room on Facebook each week. What started out as me taking some song requests for a few of my friends grew and grew as the weeks went on, and the tens of views on my live streams grew into hundreds and even thousands. I also threw myself headfirst into songwriting, and the isolation from the outside world created an introspective environment perfect for crafting my own work. As the pandemic got more and more under control, I started working more and more as a musician, and I intentionally slowed down my musical theatre gigs in order to take more live music jobs. The work I had done during the pandemic caused my confidence in my own musical and songwriting abilities to grow, and the uncertainty of the future caused me to actively live more in the present. I realized that the next day is not always promised, and that I shouldn’t sideline my lifelong dreams just because I didn’t feel like I was good enough to pursue them. I made the decision then and there to pivot to a full-time music career, and I haven’t looked back since.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2uv7qLWXrGmi3MbhdC5pfD
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattkelley_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattkelleymusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mattkelley_
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattkelley_
Image Credits
Camille Duvall
Kendra Frankle
Alexandra Galvis
Jeremy Farley
Matt Lucerna
