Meet Gary Matheny | Award Winning Singer Songwriter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gary Matheny and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gary, what is the most important factor behind your success?
I feel my persistence and marketing skills have allowed me to get my brand, my music and my name out to fans globally. I normally don’t let closed doors affect me, I close my eyes and walk through and then I have to act.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a singer songwriter from Cleveland TN. My entire life I have loved music and singing. As a young boy, while my older brothers were in school, I would entertain our dog in the backyard, playing my guitar (really just banging on the strings) and singing “You Ain’t Nothin But A Hound Dog.” In my teenage years a friend taught me to play the guitar and like most kids in the 60s, I joined a rock and roll band. We played venues like birthday parties, youth center dances, anywhere we could make a little money. It was originally four of us, I played rhythm guitar and sang. We eventually recruited my younger brother who played keyboards.

When I turned 16 years of age, I gave up music, I met this young girl who eventually became my wife (51years) and got a job. I realized that gas, burgers and movies cost more than music was paying. To this day, I tell my wife if it wasn’t for her I could have been a rock star, she laughs and ignores me. In 2017 after retiring fro a real job, I decided to dust off the guitar and see if I could still. play music. At the age of 12 years, my Mom purchased a Gibson SG, duel pickup, cherry wood electric guitar for my birthday. I put new strings on it, cranked it up and started playing. I was rusty, no finger callouses and stretching my fingers took some time, but I got back into playing.

A few months later I was heading to play golf with a retired co-worker and as I was traveling through Atlanta, I became stuck in traffic. I got out a piece of paper and wrote a funny poem about how bad the traffic was and titled it “Ode To Atlanta Traffic.” For fun I put it on my facebook post and a friend from high school saw it and asked if she could forward it another high school friend, Lee Jordan who was a retired professional musician. I agreed thinking it would be really cool to have a poem I had written put to music. He called asking permission and of course I didn’t decline and boom my first song was written. Lee put a real slow ballad sound to the poem and I began sharing that on social media and got some pretty good response. Lee called me and let me know he liked the way I wrote and if I did anything else he would like to look at that too. That poem created a great relationship as to friendship and co-writing sessions.

I don’t want to be pigeon-holed into writing only one genre of music. I want to be a multi-genre songwriter. I have written traditional country, outlaw country, country rock, Americana, easy listening POP and Trop Rock (Buffet sounds). Inspiration comes from various places. Recently I was asked what inspires me to write or where I get my inspiration from. I can’t sit in my music room and think I will write a song, I have to have something that will get my creative juices flowing. Something I hear or see gives me a thought and most of the inspiration comes while I am driving. I will tell my wife, write this dow because as long as I have my notes I can follow through with the process.

I have been blessed to win a lot of awards over the past couple of years and to get my music heard globally. In 2022 I was awarded Songwriter of the Year with International Singer Songwriters Association, an organization that in 22+ countries and has 18k+ members. In May of 2023, I was named Artist of the Year in the American division of Akademia Music in Las Angeles CA and also I will be inducted into their Hall of Fane in May of 2024. Just today, Back Where I Belong a song I co-wrote with my good friend Lee Jordan broke the Top 10 Independent Country charts (CashBox) at #10 and another song I wrote He’s On A Trip broke the top 100 at #80.

The music business has been a challenge. I have spent hours in front of my computer marketing myself and my songs, entering contests, sending songs to radio stations, doing any interview that I could do simply to get my name out. I have done social media ads, tried one marketing firm and then another attempting to get the right mix for me and my brand. It has been an uphill battle, however I am proud I have been persistent and hung in there-hoping it will pay off.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
In East Tennessee there are so many great places to go and eat. I love to try new eating establishments, especially what I call home grown (local). In the Cleveland/Chattanooga area we have Champy’s World Famous Fried Chicken. I like to say they have the biggest breasts in town (ha-ha). I have never had fried chicken that tastes as good as Champy’s. That would be the place I would take someone to eat. Then there is Dollywood in Pigeon Forge. They have food, entertainment, amusement rides everything a theme park should have. The best cinnamon rolls around. The shows are fabulous, especially at Christmas. The decorations and musicals are fantastic. If you stay over night, The Apple Barn in Sevierville or The Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg is the best breakfast ever. After Dollywood, you must stop in Farragut a suburb of Knoxville and eat at the Lakeside Tavern for their Pan Crusted Parmesan Trout.

Chattanooga and nashville has a lot of options as to night life. Broadway in Nashville is a great way to spend an evening, hopping from bar to bar listening to local Nashville musicians.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Brian Hedges (brianhedgesmusic@mail.com) has been a great mentor and help answering questions and schooling me in my journey. He also has a movie production company.

Website: www.garymatheny.com

Linkedin: Gary Matheny

Twitter: @GaryMathMusik

Youtube: GaryMathenyMusic

Image Credits
JOM III Gallery Macon Georgia