Joe Matz: Press

Local Musician launches second CD
By: Hilary Lewis
10/26/2006


Joe Matz is finding success selling his music on line
Joe Matz has been singing and writing music since he was four years old, but a few years ago, while going through what he called his "mid-life crisis", he finally started to record.

Loan officer by day, Matz's true passion is his music and he has a long history in it.

He started off performing in a contest at a local radio station back in the 60's and took third place. In high school, Matz continued to sing and play the guitar in several rock groups, but nothing ever seemed to work out.


In 1974, he went out on his own. He traveled around the D.C. area and played clubs and bars all over. Most of the music he played were covers, but from time to time he would sneak in some of his own. He played a lot of romantic songs that sometimes "made the girls cry," he said. He was driven by the reaction from the crowd.

During that time, Matz traveled to Nashville to try his luck with a producer/friend who had several contacts. Everywhere he went, however, he got turned down.

"They told me 'It's good. It's just not country' and I would say 'duh, I don't write country' and then get turned away," Matz recalls.

To Matz, his music is more light rock/crossover country 70's style and is influenced by groups like the Beatles, Bread, and Three Dog Night. Definitely not anything like the country that was being played back in the 70's.

Matz got a break in Nashville while he was there when Kris Kristofferson Publishing planned to use a couple of his songs for a light rock label Kris owned. He was signed, but as Matz's luck would have it, his tunes were bumped from the album, and the next thing he knew, the label went under.

He got another break when he worked with Chris Nick (Stevie Nick's brother) at Screen Gems Recording for a while in Nashville, but again, he had no luck.

Matz was a bit discouraged, he knew that he had real talent, but he was realistic.

"The chances of writing songs and becoming a star are like playing the lottery," he said.

So Matz moved back to Virginia and in 1980, after years of performing, Matz gave it up. He decided to get married and start a family, leaving his dreams of a music career aside for a while.

During that time, Matz became a CEO for a company and managed 180 employees. He traveled around the world, but said that "it wasn't worth it, the money, it ages you."

Today, Matz has given up the corporate life and spends much of his time in his home studio. He records mostly at night while his wife is asleep. He says he likes to write "songs about me, or things that happen in my life." His first album, produced several years ago, was named "Mid-life Crisis" and his most recent is "Love Lost....And Found Again", which he says is a history of his romantic life.

Matz has been promoting his two CD's on Cdbaby.com and other sites on the web. One of his songs, Old Fashioned Romance, reached No. 12 on the American Idol Underground country chart last June. Those interested in supporting a local musician or buying one of Matzs' CD's can listen to his music at www.cdbaby.com/matz.