MATT STELL: GEARS UP FOR BETTER THAN THAT EP — AVAILABLE NOW (Audio)
Scroll Down for the Intro, Outro, and Story audio work parts to support the release of Stell’s “Better Than That” Ep.
Better Than That EP – Cut x Cut Story Behind the Song Audio Work Parts
“So I wrote “Everywhere But On” with two of my favorite songwriters in town, Paul Sikes and Lance Miller. And, when we got in the room and sat down that day Paul had this great title, “Everywhere But On.” We just jumped in with both feet, all three of us writing this song because it felt like something I could relate to. It’s some life that I’ve lived. This song has to do with the high price of being on the road and I know a little something about that for sure. The character in this song has been on a journey that’s very similar to the one I’ve been on and as soon as we got rolling it didn’t take us long to get going. And, when we finished we knew we’d written something that we really liked and we were really proud of. It’s been one of my favorite songs to play out live whether it’s an acoustic setting or a full band setting and I can’t wait to get this song out into the world on country radio.”
“If I Was A Bar” is one of those songs that when I heard, I instantly knew I wanted to be the artist that cut it. And I knew the direction, I knew how I wanted it to sound, which was very similar to the demo because 3 of my favorite writers—Jonathan Singleton, Zack Kale & Dan Isbell—wrote that tune. And I think they might’ve sent it to me the night they wrote it, and I knew by the time I got to the chorus that it was a song that I wanted to be the artist that sang it. I had a vision for it in the studio, and it really came together very easily. So it’s a song that I’ve really enjoyed playing- I love playing live, and it really kind of captures sort of what we do live.
I wrote “Prayed For You” with two of my best friends in music Allison Veltz and Ash Bowers. And, really Allison came in the writers’ room with this a great idea of sort of the last few lines of what ended up being the chorus. It was ‘More than I could fathom, I didn’t know you from Adam, but I prayed for you.’ And we just sat down to write a song about a guy, a character in a song who’s a lot like me, who’s a lot luckier than he deserves. You know, really the message is that if you persevere and you stick with it that you give a chance for good things to happen. And in the case of this song, it’s a relationship, but you know it also extends out to other parts of your life whether that’s school or job or family or anything like that. So, that was really the message we were trying to get across.
“Better Than That” is a song I wrote with one of my best friends, Joe Fox, and Phil Barton, an incredible writer, great guy. We’d actually written that song about a year before we tracked it, but we knew we had something cool in the version we wrote back then, but we also knew that it wasn’t quite there, you know the dots weren’t quite connected. And the night before, literally the night before we went into the studio, Joe and I were hanging out and that song came up, and he had an idea how to work on it so we chased that down, and we called Phil and Phil came over, and we worked on that song, we finished it that night. I sent it to Ash (Bowers) who I co-produce my stuff with, and I said man, this might be fresh-baked cookies but I just love this song. He said man, I really love it too, we should cut it. And so we did, and not only did we cut it but it’s the title track to the record. And right now, I look forward to playing that song live as much as any of them, so it’s a special one for sure.
“I Love You Too” is a song that I wrote with Seth Alley, just again, I get to work with so many talented people, but Seth Alley and Ryan Peterson and I wrote that song. It was based on a conversation that Seth had had with his now wife, but a conversation that I’ve honestly been on both sides of. And when I heard that, and when we both heard it, that moment seems like a pretty universal thing, especially in some relationships that I’ve been in. And so we really kind of tackled it from a- You know, not the guy in the song, not the love interest in the song, but sort of the friend in the song, the girl that’s trying to, you know- Sometimes you can see what’s going on a little easier from the outside looking in, and so that’s sort of what that song is about. And man, I just love it. I knew we did what we meant to do with that one, and I love how it sounds, and yeah it’s a song I love.
“Sadie” is so interesting because that song is- My manager Brendan sent me that tune, and when I heard it, I was like man, this is so cool because melodically it’s not some place I would actually go. And it’s also not some place I would go in the style that it’s written with the melody carrying a bunch of it. With that being said, the lyrics in it do a great job of telling a lot with a little, and so you get the feeling of this song and this vibe, and I just thought man, it’s an incredible, incredible tune. And I wanted to put my own spin on it, and that’s what we did when we got in the studio. Man, it was a really fun song and I think folks are going to really like that one. I know that I do, I love playing it live, it’s very hard to sing.
So “Chase It Down” is a song that the guys from the 720 (Blake Hubbard & Jarrod Ingram) and Brian Maher and I wrote that’s really from the perspective of a lot of people that I know. I’m proud of where I’m from and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but at the same time you’ve got to make sure that that’s not a stifling thing, you know, you want to be able to grow where you’re at, or you want to be able to grow and come back. And this song is about a couple that’s kind of hitting that road, it’s like now or never, where they’re going to go do something or we’re going to stay here. And I’m not saying which one of those is right or wrong, but man you really kind of need to find out, and I think the people in this song, that’s sort of what it’s about.
“Look At Me Now”- I’m just going to be 100% honest, and you can take this as you want it, but this is the god’s honest truth. This is going to sound funny coming from the “Prayed For You” guy, but love songs like that are not my forte. They’re not even something that I typically just love. I love sad, heartbreak songs, that’s sort of my default setting. That being said, when I heard this song, my buddy Joe Fox that I wrote “Better Than That” with sent it to me. He, Seth Ennis and Thomas Finchum wrote this song, and again it’s not even the kind of song that I typically geek out over. But I heard that song and immediately knew they had written an absolute, just smash of a love song. And you know, from a songwriter’s perspective, there’s a selfish part of you that always wants to write everything you do, but if you’re really a songwriter and moved to town to write songs, you have to let the best song win or else there’s no such thing as a songwriter, there are just artists. And when they sent me that song, I knew immediately that that was as good of a love song, positive marriage love song that there was. And I mean it cut through to somebody like me that doesn’t go seeking out those kind of songs necessarily. And so that’s how I knew it was a special one, and I’m very proud to be the person that gets to sing that one and get to cut that song, and especially when it’s also written by one of my best friends, a few of my best friends.
Better Than That EP – Intro and Outro Audio Work Parts
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — With “Everywhere But On” rising into the Top 5 at country radio and a steady 64 weeks on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart, Matt Stell is poised for his next big breakthrough with the release of his new EP — Better Than That — available now! Co-produced by Matt with Ash Bowers, Better Than That features five new songs, including the EP’s “empowering” (Taste of Country) title track. In addition to the new sides, the EP includes the single “Everywhere But On,” his multi-week No. 1 Platinum-certified smash and one of NSAI’s “Ten Songs We Wish We’d Written,” “Prayed For You,” as well as the recently released “ If I Was A Bar.” Stream/download the full project here.
Earlier this week, Matt and Ash headlined the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum® Songwriter Session and the “breakthrough entertainer” (American Songwriter) made a virtual visit to Seacrest Studios at Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. He’ll celebrate his new EP with a live stream concert tonight (10/16) at 5:30pm CT on Facebook and YouTube and on Sunday (10/18) is set to perform the National Anthem for the Tennessee Titans vs. Houston Texans NFL game on CBS. Stay tuned to @MattStellMusic on socials for additional interviews, podcasts, live streams and appearances!
BETTER THAN THAT EP TRACK LISTING
Produced by Ash Bowers and Matt Stell
1. Everywhere But On (Matt Stell, Paul Sikes, and Lance Miller)
2. If I Was A Bar (Dan Isbell, Zack Kale, and Jonathan Singleton)
3. Prayed For You (Ash Bowers, Matt Stell, and Allison Veltz-Cruz)
4. Better Than That (Joe Fox, Phil Barton, and Matt Stell)
5. I Love You Too (Seth Alley, Matt Stell, Ryan Peterson)
6. Sadie (Nate Cyphert, Sam Roman, Parrish Warrington, and Diederik van Elsas)
7. Chase it Down (Jarrod Ingram, Blake Hubbard, Brian Maher, and Matt Stell)
8. Look at Me Now (Joe Fox, Seth Ennis, and Thomas Finchum)
ABOUT MATT STELL: With over 340 Million cumulative streams across his catalog to date and a Top 5 and climbing single “Everywhere But On,” Platinum artist Matt Stell is having a banner 2020. Stell kicked off the year with a performance on “Good Morning America,” leading into his first headlining tour. He started Penned Up – his hugely successful 8-week Instagram-live series, was the first-ever artist to receive a virtual plaque from the RIAA for his Platinum break-through debut single, “Prayed For You,” and performed the National Anthem for a NASCAR Cup Series Race. Matt was also featured on “Over Yonder,” a collaboration with viral sensation and Christian rapper Lathan Warlick, which powerfully blends hip hop patriotism with a call for unity.
In 2019, Matt’s multi-week No. 1 Platinum-certified hit, “Prayed For You” made him the ONLY debut artist single to top the Billboard Country Airplay chart that year (for two consecutive weeks), also notching the top spot in Country Aircheck/ Mediabase. The highly acclaimed smash, written by Stell with Ash Bowers and Allison Veltz Cruz, has accumulated more than 270million streams worldwide.
The 6’7 Arkansas native has come a long way from playing college basketball for Drury University and making the choice to head to Nashville instead of Cambridge, MA where he was accepted into Harvard University’s Extension School Pre-Med program. Following his dream of writing and performing, the self-taught vocalist and guitar-player made the move to Music City in 2014, landing a publishing and management deal with Wide Open Music and a record deal with music industry powerhouse Barry Weiss’ RECORDS Nashville/Arista Nashville. Stell has received “Ones To Watch” shout-outs from multiple partners, including Vevo DSCVR, MusicRow’s Next Big Thing, CMT Discovery Artist, YouTube Music Artist on the Rise and more.
Learn more at
mattstell.com, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube @MattStellMusic.
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Media Contacts:
Allen Brown, Emmie Reitzug?
Sony Music Nashville??
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Monarch Publicity??
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