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Thursday, May 10, 2001
Corpus Christi goes country
Local songwriter finds success on Mark McGuinn's debut album, which features a No. 1 single
By Brendan Walsh
Caller-Times

Photo illustration by John Bruce/Caller-Times

Trey Matthews (right) has written music and lyrics for country music singer Mark McGuinn, whose debut album was released this week.

It's been a long road to the Billboard charts for country songwriter and Portland native Trey Matthews, but he couldn't be happier. The 35-year-old former Gregory-Portland and Southwest Texas State baseball standout is now making hits of a different kind - he's employed as a staff songwriter for Spark Entertainment in Nashville.
   Since moving to Music City about five years ago, Matthews has had nine of his songs recorded. "I've Thought of Everything" was on Daryle Singletary's "Now and Again" last year and cracked the Top 60 on the Billboard charts, "Only Perfect" appeared on South 65's "Dream Large," and upcoming albums by Wild Horses, Mike Walker and Nicki Horner will also feature his songs. But Matthews biggest break thus far has been the four songs included on Mark McGuinn's eponymous debut, which was released Tuesday.
   "It's a really, really neat life," Matthews said. "It's a lot of pressure, I guess, because there's a lot of competition, but it's great fun."
   In the notoriously tough music publishing business it's not often songwriters are heard talking about fun, but with four songs on what is expected to be a hit album, lately Matthews has been able to expand his vocabulary.
   "When you come out here and realize the talent that's in this city, you're saying to yourself 'Oh my gosh.' I meet people all the time who've been here 10 years and still haven't had a song recorded," Matthews said.
   A slow start
   Life wasn't always sunshine and chart toppers for Matthews. After graduating from Southwest Texas State, he moved to San Antonio and worked in the finance industry two years, though "it seemed like 10." After figuring out he just couldn't do the 9-to-5 thing, Matthews realized that he wanted to either play baseball or write songs. He chose the latter.
   Beginning staff writers in Nashville usually earn a meager monthly salary of about $1,500, barely enough to make ends meet in the relatively expensive tourist town.
   Most work for a few months or a few years before figuring out the business is too tough, but those who pen a hit song can become wealthy virtually overnight. A single that hits the Top 10 on Billboard's country charts will net the songwriter between $75,000 and $150,000 right away, plus residuals for the next 50 years. A No. 1 hit is an almost guaranteed $250,000, plus residuals, and even more if it stays on the charts for several weeks, is part of a successful album, or gets used in a movie or a commercial.
   Trey Matthews has yet to have such a successful hit, but if country music writers from the Los Angeles Times, Country Music magazine, USA Today and other heavyweights are right, one of the songs he wrote for Mark McGuinn may soon be one.
   Crossover success
   At a time when country music sales are declining (10.7 percent of music sales are country, compared to 16.7 percent five years ago), the industry is abuzz about McGuinn. His atypical looks (he wears a beret, a slick-looking mustache and sunglasses), distinctive voice and pop leanings mean that many are looking to him as a potential savior of the industry. The first single from his album, "Mrs. Stephen Rudy" was No. 1 in sales last week and in the Top 10 on the radio charts. Though this is McGuinn's first record, comparisons to Garth Brooks aren't unheard of.
   Friends McGuinn and Matthews met when they were both struggling writers in Nashville, and the duo have hung out and written songs in Corpus Christi several times.
   McGuinn seems uncomfortable with the suggestion that he's going to become a superstar or even crossover to the pop charts.
   "For me, there are only two kinds of music: good and bad. (Crossover success) is not something that I'm seeking or the label is seeking. There's only one Garth Brooks and there will only be one," he said.
   McGuinn says that writing songs with Matthews is a natural extension of their friendship.
   "I can't just go into a room with someone I don't know and come up with a hit," McGuinn said.
   When he and Matthews write together it's usually a pretty informal process.
   "I might have a melodic riff, he might have the words, so we just talk about ideas and kind of go from there."
   Matthews' success has meant his mother, Barbara, can let out a sigh of relief.
   "It's been a long five years waiting for something big to get started. Everyone that knew him is so surprised because they thought he was going to be a baseball player."
   With his four songs on McGuinn's new album, it looks like Matthews may be hitting a different kind of homerun.


Contact Brendan Walsh at 886-3763 or walshb@caller.com

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