So I decided to start this series because I thought it would be fun to share and let yall see what I’ve been up to over the past couple of months.
I started doing these recordings about two months ago. A mix of Christian and secular. During the first month, I was just using the WhatsApp recorder, so the sound quality is pretty rough—very lo-fi—but on some of those I still managed to captured some cool moments.
About a month ago, I downloaded Lexis Audio Editor, and the sound quality is a lot better. This week I have two songs for you… Cruise by Florida Georgia Line and Your Winter by Sister Hazel, which I recorded last night. I also tried singing it in the key of D for the first time.
Anyway, I hope yall enjoy them. Thanks for listening.🎙️
For the past few months, I’ve been doing late-night recordings of songs in my bathroom because the acoustics are good. No fancy recording equipment—just my phone, the Lexis Audio Editor app, my guitar, and me. This one is a cover of You Love Me Anyway by Sidewalk Prophets.
Hey yall… hope everyone is doing good… I’ve been away for a minute… just out here lifing it up… going through some things… no big deal right? We are tough… you and me… we got this… bring on the rain right? Then I can break out my guitar… and we can sing “I’m Still Standing”… make Elton John and Jesus proud of us…
But honestly… sometimes I’m not strong enough…
Still… I find my strength in Him… not Elton… the other One.
Today I have two more Matthew West songs for you…
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Strong Enough… The Story of Your Life 2o1O 🎶
Oh Me Of Little Faith… Live Forever 2o15 🎶
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Also I added two bonus videos…
One is Matthew at a children’s hospital visiting his friend Brooke… he wrote a song for her…
The other is Matthew giving a guitar tutorial for his song Strong Enough 🎸
Hopefully… things in my life have calmed down enough for me to get back to blogging…
Hope yall have a blessed Sunday …t…
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sadly Brooke Mulford passed away on June 12, 2017 after a long battle with neuroblastoma cancer. Matthew wrote and performed the song “Never Ever Give Up” for her during her final months in the hospital.
The Lord is my strength and my shield… in Him… my heart trusts… and I am helped. — Psalm 28:7 (ESV) ♩ ♪ ♫
I’ve had some kind words over the years… but one stands above the rest…
It came through a window…
Back in the late 90s… I was living in a little downstairs apartment outside Atlanta… just me… a guitar… and a lot going on in life…
Most nights I’d sit by that open window and play… sing… pour it all out…
What I didn’t know…
Was that someone was listening…
There was a girl in the neighborhood… and for about a month… she would come by at night… lean up against the outside of my building… just out of sight…
And listen…
She told me later… she’d wait, hoping I’d be there… that my songs helped her get through things she was dealing with…
That she would just stand there… breathing it in… and for a little while…
She could forget her life…
One night… she finally said hello…
And I’ll never forget all the things she said to me…
That my music gave her peace… even if just for a moment…
I’ve never had a better compliment than that…
Not applause… not praise…
Just knowing that something coming out of my heart… reached someone else’s…
I was in chorus all through grade school… into high school…
learned how to sight read sheet music for vocals early on…
I started playing the guitar when I was 14… as a way to let go of deep loss…
it was a life saver…
later.. I picked up the bass…
shortly after that.. the piano…
might as well throw the harmonica in the mix…
I decided music was the way for me…
As a solo artist I played nightclubs and bars… concerts and music festivals…
I was part of a group of worldwide musicians known as ThePond…
we did online performances and in-person music festivals…
Then later…
I stopped all the secular stuff… went full-on Christian music…
I was a worship leader in church… also at different men’s ministries…
I had a traveling music ministry…
where I would go minister at hospitals and nursing homes and drug rehabs… mental health facilities…
I was also in a Christian band… KingsGuard.
I stayed so busy with it…
I got overwhelmed…
I started losing the fire… the desire to play…
About 3 years ago…
I decided I was done with it…
I got rid of my guitars… gave them away…
I can’t fake it…
I was burned out…
About 6 months ago…
I started feeling a spark inside… that fire again…
I realized that it’s who I am…
it’s part of me…
always will be…
Guess I just had to do life without it.
Live for a while.
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Last night…
I started searching Amazon for my next guitar…
narrowed it down to two choices…
was planning on buying one of them…
This morning.. my uncle called me…
he’s a great musician and singer…
he’s sick… many health problems…
two weeks ago.. they found out he has a rare cancer…
He has two guitars…
he’s giving me one…
The other is his baby…
he wants me to hold it for him…
if his health gets better… he will get it back…
If not… he wants me to have it…
So here I am…
that old fire starting to flicker again…
guitars coming back into my life…
not in a cardboard box from Amazon…
but out of the hands of my uncle…
a man who’s carried songs through his own pain…
It feels like God is putting a guitar back in my hands through him…
a reminder that this calling never really left…
and this time…
I don’t have to run it down…
I just have to receive it…
and honor it.
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found this hidden gem of me playing back stage.. with my fellow musicians from ThePond… this was PONDFEST 2o08… at Chimney Rock.. North Carolina… Lake Lure area… same place the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed… the people in the video are from all over the world… we are just messing around here.. practicing… learning new songs.. I had been drinking vodka all day… ugg I don’t drink like that anymore 😁👇 that’s me on the left
Message Received Loud N’ Clear… played today for the first time In a fat minute.
🎸 Psalm 40:3 “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God…”
We’re still digging into Tonic — and there is so much gold left to be found.. You know how it is… you’ve got to get to know someone before you marry them — believe you me 💯
So I’ve got two more sweet ones for you today…
🎶 “Take Me As I Am” Year released: 2o02 Album.. Head on Straight (Tonic’s third studio album) Album release date.. September 24.. 2o02
🎶 “Knock Down Walls” Year released.. 1999 Album.. Sugar (Tonic’s second studio album) Album release date.. November 9.. 1999
And just a cool little fact about me… Pretty much every song I’ve ever shared with yall on this blog — I also play and sing myself… me and my guitar 🎸
Hope you enjoy… I truly appreciate you…
This song has the F word in it.. just once.. at the 1:37 mark.. it’s not bad.. it’s quick.. 👇
Heart of Loia `'.,°~ 