NASHVILLE– Joe Matthews came out of the Oklahoma oil fields with a vision of one day making it to Music City USA.
Now that he’s gotten here, in just 10 months Big Joe has hit the ground running at warp speed, both on the creative and business sides of Music Row and radio.
His first album in four years comes out in a few weeks; he is co-editor of the Nashville Music Guide, a booming print and online publication which recently attracted more than 267,000 page views in one week; he’s a top executive at the new indy label TCM Records; and he has become a master showman and Master of Ceremonies at Pick’s Nashville, with his weekly Big Joe’s Big Night Out series and as host of his own radio show which airs every Tuesday night on NixaCountry.com
Yessir, the boy has been busy.
“I’m real excited about this new album,” Big Joe says in a conversation in March at Pick’s, during a rare break from his hectic schedule
The title will be Travelin’ Man.
“It took me about four years to write and find the right songs for this album,” he says. “I’ve been thinking of this second album ever since I got the first one, No Fun Haters, done four years ago.”
Word of Big Joe’s songwriting prowess is spreading fast: The Canadian artist Craig Moritz, a TCM signee, has already covered the title track of No Fun Haters.
Matthews has quickly established several key biz relationships in his first year in Nashville. These companies are helping the NMG and TCM teams both on the editorial and music sides. They include Bob Coan’s New Media Edge; Kevin Nixa and NixaCountry.com; Corey Frizzell, Artist to the Stars; and Social Media expert Jessica Northey of Finger Candy Media.
He is truly living the dream he has had since he was a teen.
“My Dad and my older brother Jamie were singers too,” he says. “They went to Branson, and they came to Nashville and cut a record too. I got to spend a whole summer in Branson.”
He had grown up around with a passion for country music, and Branson gave him a crash course in the business.
“I went to three concerts a day for three months,” he recalls. “My favorite was Glen Campbell. I saw Willie and Merle do `Pancho And Lefty.’ I saw Boxcar Willie before he died, Vern Gosdin, I saw the last show Conway did in Branson.”
Joe and his father rarely went to shows together, but that day Mr. Matthews said, “we’d better go and see ol’ Conway. He may not be around much longer.”
Sadly, he was right. Conway Twitty passed in June 1993. Conway had scored a whopping 40 No. 1 Billboard country singles, the most ever until George Strait passed him with 2006’s “Give It Away,” co-written by Jamey Johnson, who oh by the way was the featured artist at Joe’s most recent Lyrics For Lyric event.
Some things are just meant to be, it seems.
Branson isn’t all that far from Joe’s native Oklahoma.
“I grew up in a oil-field family,” he says. “And I was surrounded by sports fans. Our publishing company is called Oil Trash Music. I’m oil-field trash and I’m proud of it.”
Like farming and ranching, work on the oil fields is brutally hard work.
“It’s what drives our family, and it’s what raised us to do things we do,” he says. “I love the work, I love pushin’ tools, the people, and even the smell. To me it’s fun and it pays well.”
Joe’s uncle, Randy Matthews, is like Joe is an oil man with a passion for country music and for Nashville.
Randy is also a music visionary, having purchased the Nashville Music Guide from co-founder Dan Wunsch in January 2010 and already transforming the magazine, Web site, and TCM Records into one of the Row’s fastest-growing conglomerates.
Both Joe and his uncle Randy, who are close in age, are second and third-generation oil men. Joe’s grandfather began working on rigs; Randy now builds them.
“I was born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, but I grew up in Dover, nine miles north,” Joe says.
Sam Walton, the fabled founder of Wal-Mart Stores, is from the same part of the Sooner State.
“Don’t take this as cockiness,” Matthews admits, “but when I saw Sam’s sign get put up, I wanted my own damn sign up there that said, `Welcome to Kingfisher County, home of Country Music Hall of Famer Joe Matthews.’ ”
To say Dover, located northwest of Oklahoma City, is a small town might be an understatement. It has fewer than 500 residents.
“Dover’s great, man. I graduated high school with 14 people,” he says. “It was great for sports. Girls basketball was dominating when I was there, and the baseball team was good.”
And Big Joe, a pitcher/first baseman, was one of that very good team’s very best players.
“I love baseball,” says Joe, a proud product of the same state that produced Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle (from Commerce, OK) and Johnny Bench (from Binger).
“One of the biggest influences I had in my life was the baseball coach at Dover, Brad Gore,” Matthews says. “He’s one of the voices in my head still, to this day. We Facebook a lot.”
One of the countless lessons Brad taught Joe was, “it’s better to look good than to feel good,” Joe says. “We may not play the best, but we always had top-of-the-line uniforms that we had to raise funds for.”
That head for business has always been a key for Joe.
Another Brad Gore expression: “If you’re early, you’re never late. Brad taught me that baseball is life, that’s why it’s still my favorite game,” Matthews recollects. “Everything Coach Gore taught me in baseball applied in my music life, as far as strategies and thinkin’ and workin’ hard and doing things right. It all correlates.”
At Northwestern Oklahoma State, Joe’s roommates were also athletes, rodeo cowboys. “That’s where I got my first real taste of acoustic shows, ‘cause I played those rodeo parties. I was the music man,” he says.
Merle Haggard was, and still is, his all-time favorite singer and songwriter.
“It’s because of Merle’s words and the music. It’s country, and it tells stories,” Matthews says. “I’m also a huge Mark Chesnutt, Joe Diffie, and Tracy Lawrence fan. My dream and inspiration is to be a honky-tonk legend.”
That dream took him to Fort Worth for a few years, working in the oil fields during the days and going to the legendary Billy Bob’s at night. Billy Bob’s, in the Fort Worth stockyards, is perhaps the most famous – and one of the biggest – honky tonks in the world.
“I didn’t miss a weekend at Billy Bob’s for two years, and I saw everything come through there,” Joe says.
It was a front-row education from Music Row’s top stars, and up-and-coming new artists. They all play there.
Pick’s Nashville, the former Hall of Fame Lounge located right across the street from BMI Nashville and next door to Music Row, has to a great extent become Joe’s Music City equivalent of Billy Bob’s.
His “Big Joe’s Big Night Out” Thursday night shows there have become hugely popular, both live and on the Web.
“Pick’s is like my second home here in town, and also it allows me to hone my craft,” he says.
Joe didn’t get to Nashville directly. He worked for a time in Iowa, editing Thunder Roads biker magazine and picking up a great deal of real-world magazine experience that has come in very handy with the Nashville Music Guide.
“That job was a blessing in disguise,” he says. “My Dad bought the franchises for the magazine in two states, Minnesota and Iowa. He put me in Iowa. It wasn’t a very successful venture for us, except for the fact that it was a $100,000 college that my Dad paid for me later in life. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Matthews learned the tough jobs of editing and layout in Iowa. Joe learned how to put magazine together on tight deadlines and under huge pressure, how to create good content, and how to find the best writers.
“It was priceless experience,” Joe said. “As much as Iowa wasn’t a good deal for the magazine, it’s what God had in mind for me.”
And when Randy Matthews purchased the Nashville Music Guide, he quickly knew where to find the ideal co-editor. He phoned his nephew Joe.
Few musicians or songwriters are organized enough or disciplined enough to succeed in a completely different business, like magazine editing. But Joe has a true knack for both.
“When you put an article in the biker magazine about someone who has a crazy bike, or an article in the NMG about a homeless guy who writes songs, you actually do change people’s lives,” he says. “I’ve seen the magazine change Captain Joe Kent’s life. I’ve seen CJaye LeRose get on the cover of the NMG, and then the next couple weeks she got a publicist.
“My own dream is to make it to the Country Music Hall of Fame but if I can help everybody else along the way, to me that’s even better,” Big Joe says, smiling. “I’m the least selfish person in the world.”
Big Joe Matthews is truly a guy who’s earned his place in Nashville. In fact, decades of hard work earned him that spot, even before he got here last May.
And now that he’s here, Joe isn’t wasting a minute of the opportunity he’s been dreaming of ever since he was a 13-year-old in the Oklahoma oil fields.
By PHIL SWEETLAND
Music+Radio contributor
For Interview Requests Contact:
Nashville Music Media | Elise Anderson
Tel. 615/242-8181
Cell Phone: 615/946-6055
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“Big” Joe MatthewsNASHVILLE– Joe Matthews came out of the Oklahoma oil fields with a vision of one day making it to Music City USA.
Now that he’s gotten here, in just 10 months Big Joe has hit the ground running at warp speed, both on the creative and business sides of Music Row and radio.
His first album in four years comes out in a few weeks; he is co-editor of the Nashville Music Guide, a booming print and online publication which recently attracted more than 267,000 page views in one week; he’s a top executive at the new indy label TCM Records; and he has become a master showman and Master of Ceremonies at Pick’s Nashville, with his weekly Big Joe’s Big Night Out series and as host of his own radio show which airs every Tuesday night on NixaCountry.com
Yessir, the boy has been busy.
“I’m real excited about this new album,” Big Joe says in a conversation in March at Pick’s, during a rare break from his hectic schedule
The title will be Travelin’ Man.
“It took me about four years to write and find the right songs for this album,” he says. “I’ve been thinking of this second album ever since I got the first one, No Fun Haters, done four years ago.”
Word of Big Joe’s songwriting prowess is spreading fast: The Canadian artist Craig Moritz, a TCM signee, has already covered the title track of No Fun Haters.
Matthews has quickly established several key biz relationships in his first year in Nashville. These companies are helping the NMG and TCM teams both on the editorial and music sides. They include Bob Coan’s New Media Edge; Kevin Nixa and NixaCountry.com; Corey Frizzell, Artist to the Stars; and Social Media expert Jessica Northey of Finger Candy Media.
He is truly living the dream he has had since he was a teen.
“My Dad and my older brother Jamie were singers too,” he says. “They went to Branson, and they came to Nashville and cut a record too. I got to spend a whole summer in Branson.”
He had grown up around with a passion for country music, and Branson gave him a crash course in the business.
“I went to three concerts a day for three months,” he recalls. “My favorite was Glen Campbell. I saw Willie and Merle do `Pancho And Lefty.’ I saw Boxcar Willie before he died, Vern Gosdin, I saw the last show Conway did in Branson.”
Joe and his father rarely went to shows together, but that day Mr. Matthews said, “we’d better go and see ol’ Conway. He may not be around much longer.”
Sadly, he was right. Conway Twitty passed in June 1993. Conway had scored a whopping 40 No. 1 Billboard country singles, the most ever until George Strait passed him with 2006’s “Give It Away,” co-written by Jamey Johnson, who oh by the way was the featured artist at Joe’s most recent Lyrics For Lyric event.
Some things are just meant to be, it seems.
Branson isn’t all that far from Joe’s native Oklahoma.
“I grew up in a oil-field family,” he says. “And I was surrounded by sports fans. Our publishing company is called Oil Trash Music. I’m oil-field trash and I’m proud of it.”
Like farming and ranching, work on the oil fields is brutally hard work.
Big Joe Matthews hosting Big Joe’s Big Night Out at Pick’s Nashville“It’s what drives our family, and it’s what raised us to do things we do,” he says. “I love the work, I love pushin’ tools, the people, and even the smell. To me it’s fun and it pays well.”
Joe’s uncle, Randy Matthews, is like Joe is an oil man with a passion for country music and for Nashville.
Randy is also a music visionary, having purchased the Nashville Music Guide from co-founder Dan Wunsch in January 2010 and already transforming the magazine, Web site, and TCM Records into one of the Row’s fastest-growing conglomerates.
Both Joe and his uncle Randy, who are close in age, are second and third-generation oil men. Joe’s grandfather began working on rigs; Randy now builds them.
“I was born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, but I grew up in Dover, nine miles north,” Joe says.
Sam Walton, the fabled founder of Wal-Mart Stores, is from the same part of the Sooner State.
“Don’t take this as cockiness,” Matthews admits, “but when I saw Sam’s sign get put up, I wanted my own damn sign up there that said, `Welcome to Kingfisher County, home of Country Music Hall of Famer Joe Matthews.’ ”
To say Dover, located northwest of Oklahoma City, is a small town might be an understatement. It has fewer than 500 residents.
“Dover’s great, man. I graduated high school with 14 people,” he says. “It was great for sports. Girls basketball was dominating when I was there, and the baseball team was good.”
And Big Joe, a pitcher/first baseman, was one of that very good team’s very best players.
“I love baseball,” says Joe, a proud product of the same state that produced Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle (from Commerce, OK) and Johnny Bench (from Binger).
“One of the biggest influences I had in my life was the baseball coach at Dover, Brad Gore,” Matthews says. “He’s one of the voices in my head still, to this day. We Facebook a lot.”
Joe Matthews, Managing Editor of the Nashville Music Guide (Photo by Kane Jacobson)One of the countless lessons Brad taught Joe was, “it’s better to look good than to feel good,” Joe says. “We may not play the best, but we always had top-of-the-line uniforms that we had to raise funds for.”
That head for business has always been a key for Joe.
Another Brad Gore expression: “If you’re early, you’re never late. Brad taught me that baseball is life, that’s why it’s still my favorite game,” Matthews recollects. “Everything Coach Gore taught me in baseball applied in my music life, as far as strategies and thinkin’ and workin’ hard and doing things right. It all correlates.”
At Northwestern Oklahoma State, Joe’s roommates were also athletes, rodeo cowboys. “That’s where I got my first real taste of acoustic shows, ‘cause I played those rodeo parties. I was the music man,” he says.
Merle Haggard was, and still is, his all-time favorite singer and songwriter.
“It’s because of Merle’s words and the music. It’s country, and it tells stories,” Matthews says. “I’m also a huge Mark Chesnutt, Joe Diffie, and Tracy Lawrence fan. My dream and inspiration is to be a honky-tonk legend.”
That dream took him to Fort Worth for a few years, working in the oil fields during the days and going to the legendary Billy Bob’s at night. Billy Bob’s, in the Fort Worth stockyards, is perhaps the most famous – and one of the biggest – honky tonks in the world.
“I didn’t miss a weekend at Billy Bob’s for two years, and I saw everything come through there,” Joe says.
It was a front-row education from Music Row’s top stars, and up-and-coming new artists. They all play there.
Pick’s Nashville, the former Hall of Fame Lounge located right across the street from BMI Nashville and next door to Music Row, has to a great extent become Joe’s Music City equivalent of Billy Bob’s.
His “Big Joe’s Big Night Out” Thursday night shows there have become hugely popular, both live and on the Web.
“Pick’s is like my second home here in town, and also it allows me to hone my craft,” he says.
Joe didn’t get to Nashville directly. He worked for a time in Iowa, editing Thunder Roads biker magazine and picking up a great deal of real-world magazine experience that has come in very handy with the Nashville Music Guide.
“That job was a blessing in disguise,” he says. “My Dad bought the franchises for the magazine in two states, Minnesota and Iowa. He put me in Iowa. It wasn’t a very successful venture for us, except for the fact that it was a $100,000 college that my Dad paid for me later in life. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be here today.”
Matthews learned the tough jobs of editing and layout in Iowa. Joe learned how to put magazine together on tight deadlines and under huge pressure, how to create good content, and how to find the best writers.
“It was priceless experience,” Joe said. “As much as Iowa wasn’t a good deal for the magazine, it’s what God had in mind for me.”
And when Randy Matthews purchased the Nashville Music Guide, he quickly knew where to find the ideal co-editor. He phoned his nephew Joe.
Few musicians or songwriters are organized enough or disciplined enough to succeed in a completely different business, like magazine editing. But Joe has a true knack for both.
(Photo by Kane Jacobson)“When you put an article in the biker magazine about someone who has a crazy bike, or an article in the NMG about a homeless guy who writes songs, you actually do change people’s lives,” he says. “I’ve seen the magazine change Captain Joe Kent’s life. I’ve seen CJaye LeRose get on the cover of the NMG, and then the next couple weeks she got a publicist.
“My own dream is to make it to the Country Music Hall of Fame but if I can help everybody else along the way, to me that’s even better,” Big Joe says, smiling. “I’m the least selfish person in the world.”
Big Joe Matthews is truly a guy who’s earned his place in Nashville. In fact, decades of hard work earned him that spot, even before he got here last May.
And now that he’s here, Joe isn’t wasting a minute of the opportunity he’s been dreaming of ever since he was a 13-year-old in the Oklahoma oil fields.
By PHIL SWEETLAND
Music+Radio contributor
For Interview Requests Contact:
Nashville Music Media | Elise Anderson
Tel. 615/242-8181
Cell Phone: 615/946-6055
Email: nashvillemusicmedia@gmail.com
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