Raised on the outskirts of Dallas, close enough to see the city lights reflected in the sky at night, but seemingly a world away, Matt Caldwell's childhood was typical for someone in a small Texas town.
Matt started singing in church at an early age, but in high school, as happens with many young men in small-town Texas, sports became the focus of his after-school interests. He played baseball, basketball, and football - as starting quarterback. But by his senior year, music was creeping back into his life. Matt gave up sports to front a band called "Texas' Most Wanted". They played in the little dives and bars in town and in the surrounding areas and eventually made it to larger clubs and festivals.
After a few years, Matt knew playing music was what he wanted to do with his life; it was his passion, and he knew if he were going to be successful, it wasn't going to happen where he was.
Matt Caldwell came to Music City in 1999, but like so many of the multitudes who come to Nashville to chase a dream, he soon found himself caught in the balancing act of trying to break into country music while trying to make a living. Sometimes it's hard to find gigs and put on a good show when you've been out in the hot sun working construction all day. So rather than going all in (and burning himself out), Matt took his time, playing a gig here, a gig therecalways staying in form, but never feeling that he was spinning his wheels.
He worked on his craft, became more and more natural onstage, and made friends by the dozens. His easiness in front of a crowd, approachability and honest-to-goodness humble nature made it hard to tell who was having more fun -- the audience or Matt.
After becoming friends with folks in and on the periphery of the music business, and also with artists who had recently signed on with major labels -- after seven years of taking his time to work his way up, Matt Caldwell is on the cusp of something big.
Matt has opened for acts such as Travis Tritt, Robert Earl Keen, David Allen Coe, Trent Wilmon and Wade Hayes, here in Nashville and as far away as Kansas City and Chicago.
