Matt Warren: Singer / Songwriter with multiple hits had to go through rehab to find his greatness.
Everybody's Mark Pattison, I'm back again with another great episode of finding your summit, all about people overcoming adversity and finding their way. Can't wait to jump into today's guest, who certainly fits that bill. But before we do, I want to direct your attention to my website, www dot mark pattison nfl dot com, and I've got my film Emmy Award Winning Best Picture searching for the summit. You can check it out there. It directs you over to NFL three sixty. So fortunate that they film my amazing journey up and down Mount Everest and back Um and and what a beautiful story at the end of the day. And if you haven't seen it, check it out again. Best Picture Emmy. I've got the hardware comments, so I'm excited about that. Number two is I've done over two and fifty episodes, uh, going on out two or three years, and I've got so many amazing people doing incredible things and it always inspires me to talk to these people, like we're gonna talk to today, just what they're doing, how they've gone about life and their success and we all need that. I'm not the or you're not the only one I need it to to Jack me up and keep me going up and down these mountains. And finally, we continue to raise money for a millions everest all proceeds go to higher ground. It's all about empowering others and that's what we aim to do. Um, we we show the film, we've done these campaigns with Amelia, so on, so forth. Uh. And I think we have something coming either to the south down of Mississippi, which I hope Matt would be included with. That's coming on just a minute. Uh, and in southern California with Um, some pretty cool people. So tune into that, um all, if you do go on to that length. Philanthropy, millions Everest of all proceeds go directly to higher ground. It doesn't come to me in anyway. So on that note, let's get into today's awesome guest. His Name Matt Warren. Matt, I've met you two years ago down in the Great State of Mississippi, the little town of Greenville, at a wonderful common mutual friends, Steve Azar. He's another Delta Blues Singer, in your case singer Songwriter. I hope I got that right, Matt. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. Brother. I'm I'm excited to be on here and it's a real honor. Thanks for asking. Well, listen, you know, let's let's just rewind this, because we're gonna talk about your life. We're gonna talk about dreams, we're gonna talk about failures. You know, we talked about the name of the show is finding your summit. There's peaks, the valleys. Um, you've been in valleys. You've been in peaks. I've been in a whole probably more valleys than you've been, and I've been on a couple of peaks and it's fun when you're standing on the top. But you know, to develop that character over time you have to go through some stuff. Right. That builds that character, that broils that grit, that builds those other things that you ultimately are made up. But I want to go back just two years now and and I want to tell you my experience, Um, for the audience. So there's a there's a common friend of of Matt and mind. His name is Steve Azar. He's a Delta Country Blues he's had a number of hits. He's a singer, he's a songwriter, just like our guest today. Um. But he he throws a a Gulf event, a fundraiser, and then we're fortunate, the people that come down to be able to listen to these these amazing voices that Steve. He calls friends up on stage on a Friday night and I was sitting back with my girl dares, and I was I was this Guy, man Warren, was introduced. He came up and belt it up and we're looking each other like, oh my God, this guy sings like a flippant angel, I mean so talented. And afterwards I said something, you know, and we didn't really talk too much after that. And this last year, a couple of months ago, we got to talk a lot more. And again you got up and you sang a beautiful song and and so, I mean again, where did this love? When did you figure out that when you opened your mouth, you have this magic that could actually come out and it's I mean, I'd sounded pretty sweet. Gosh, that's an interesting question. Um, I've kind of got a funny story, uh, about that because, Um, I wasn't really sure, Um, that I had a beautiful voice, and the reason being, Um, you know, as a kid I was a product of what my parents listened to. I can remember being, you know, sitting in front of a record player, flipping records, you know, from one side to the next, while my mom was in the kitchen or doing whatever she was doing. And that was kind of my babysitter, was the record player. Um. And so from a very young age I loved music and I would lock myself in my room as I got older, and I had a whiffleball bat and I'd stand in there and, you know, Air Guitar and I'd sing it. I always thought that I had, well, I don't know if I thought I had a good voice, but I enjoyed singing. I thought that I could sing pretty much to anything. And Uh, and then in the what not? Okay, glad you're gonna say that. The seventh in the seventh grade, I tried out for the church choir and I was the only kid that didn't make it. So I was devastated, you know, because well, a you know, everybody should make the church choir. I mean, you know, we're all just, you know, praise in Jesus. But when they you know, I was I thought to myself, maybe maybe I'm not a good singer. You know, if I'm the only kid that didn't make the choir. So, Um, I was a little confused because I knew that I enjoyed singing and I thought that I was a pretty good singer. Um. And then it wasn't until the tenth grade that I had the courage to try out again for a for chorus in high school, and it was basically because my but these all my buddies I played football with. You had to have an elective and the reasoning for uh doing chorus was on my on. My budd said, they're all the cute girls were in there and it was a lot of fun. So I got the courage I have to to try out and I think I tried out with George all in my mind, by Ray Charles and my chorus teacher, Mr James Story. He uh, he just he said, where have you been? And so that was at that point that I thought, okay, well, maybe I was right, maybe I can't sing, and then he gave me a solo. Um, that Christmas we had a Christmas show at my high school, at Gallas in high school, and he let me Sing Jingle Bell Rock and that was the first time I'd ever sing in front of a group of people and I actually didn't even tell my mom and dad that I was going to be singing until the night before and I remember telling my dad I said, I think you guys should come to the Christmas program tomorrow and I I've got a solo and uh, my dad just looked at me and solo at what, you know, and I'm single Bell Rock. And so that was the first time that was it wasn't until then really that that I thought that I had a decent voice and I guess the approval of the crowd after the cheers. You know, that that kind of was what hooked me. You know, I was like you. I was, um, an athlete, a four spoor athlete my whole life, you know, a team, team player, and it went until I stood up on that stage by myself and sang a song that I was I was hooked. Yeah, I can tell you that really quickly that in high school, my senior year, after football season, UM, myself and some other football guys tried out for as a cast for the musical Ballyga doone and I was going to be in the village and I just singing, just dish. I had to sing in front of a hundred people and I was terrified. I knew that was not my place, but that was that was my story. So I want to mix this in. So now now, you you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you get up on stage, you're singing jingle bow rock, you know, you know, you finally like Hey, maybe I can do this. You know, as you're you've got a little confidence boost, you know, going and and then and then. I know we're kind of fast foreign forwarding at the clock a bit, but over the arc of time, you know, you find your place and you start writing songs. So where does the connection come from? You're, you're okay, I got a voice. Now I actually, rather than singing jingle bow rock and all these other, you know, songs that that you get up it's like Karaoke night, but you're actually you're gonna screate your own like, where the where did that inspiration come from? Um, so, I knew that I wanted to be my ultimate dream is to be the lead singer in a band. I mean that. That has never changed. Um. And so I had a band. I had a cover band, and we were basically signed to play like frat houses and bars in the SEC at Alabama or L S U or Tennessee. and Um, the band broke up and a couple of the guys wanted to go do a thing where they were playing original music. And I realized pretty fast that if I wanted to continue chasing my dream of being a lead singer in a band, I was gonna have to have some songs of my own, because I think my thought process back then was, and it's still this way. Um, no great musician is wanna gonna want to just play covers, so you're gonna have to have your own songs, Um, and that I started writing songs out of necessity because I needed a band, Um, and that's really what put me on the path to writing songs. And and at the time, you know, I still don't know how to read or write music. I just I know what chords I'm playing and I can hear them. I was just imitating Van Morrison and and and Willie Nelson, you know, generally speaking, because I would listen to some of their records and I how I started writing songs was I would just copy the chord structure from like Willie Nelson Song or a van Morrison Song, something pretty simple. You know, Tom Petty Song. I would copy those chords and the structure and the rhythm and then I would learn how to put my own words and my own Melly over top of those chords and that chord structure and that rhythm, and then I would change the rhythm up a little bit. And so I would, you know, create my own my ow