George Birge and Matt Stell’s Country Music Journeys
George Birge and Matt Stell spent years chasing their dreams. Their paths have been different, but they shared a love for country music. And this week, they are Kelly Ford’s co-hosts on Backstage Country. Tune in and get to know more about these artists, both on and off the stage.
Pressure of Success
Birge admitted to feeling pressured. “What people don’t tell you about having success is there’s an expectation to follow it up. And I had started to put a lot of pressure on myself on what’s going to be the next single. ‘How do we follow this up? How do we keep this train rolling?’ And I had been praying for a sign to figure out what the next single was.”
He added, “I had written a lot of songs that I was excited about and that had kind of jumped off the page a little bit but didn’t raise their hand like, ‘Hey, this is guaranteed your next single.’ And I was talking to my wife about it, and she was like, ‘Listen, when you wrote ‘Mind on You,’ you knew it was your next single. When you wrote ‘Cowboy Songs,’ you knew it was your next single. And until you feel that way again, you don’t have this song.’ And that kind of stuck with me.”
Writing Songs
Ford asked the two if they have a feeling when they’re writing a song and think to themselves, “This is going to be a hit.” Birge said, “I think we’re all so in our heads, so bad. As artists, we are definitely like a clinically insane bunch. So, we’re all just out there trying to capture stories and feelings and emotions that can relate to people. But we have no idea what are hits and what are not hits. And that’s why we have a team around us to help tell us.”
Matt Stell chuckled and said he can be more objective when it comes to other people’s music. “I have stronger opinions about music I didn’t make, and I feel more confident in that. I will tell you this, George played ‘Cowboy Songs’ for me a few months before it came out. Before even the final version of it, he played me the original demo and I told him right then I said, ‘You should believe 100.000% in that. I know you got another song that’s in the running.’”
Birge agreed, “We need that, right? You need friends like that. We all have like our little group of 5 or 6 people. I mean, as artists in the public eye, you can’t sing songs before they’re ready for everybody. But you send it to your little friend group to be like, ‘Hey man, is this hitting you the same way it hits me?’ ‘Do you feel this one?’”
He said that the conversation with Stell about “Cowboy Songs” happened on the way to a show. “I had another song actually slated to be my single at the time and his reaction from ‘Cowboy Songs,’ which I hadn’t turned into label yet, gave me the confidence to be like, ‘Hey, maybe this is the one.’ And we ended up switching it out and now it’s a number one song, so thank you, Matt. I still owe you a beer, cowboy.”
For George Birge and Matt Stell, country music isn’t just about catchy hooks—it’s about the experiences that shape us and the songs that bring people together. Want to keep up with them? Follow George on Instagram here and Matt here.
