When Matt Stell released his faith-based “Prayed for You” debut single, he had no idea if the song would even get played on radio, let alone become a No. 1 hit. But the song, which Stell co-wrote with Allison Veltz and Ash Bowers, made it all the way to the top of the charts, an unexpected welcome into the country music industry for the Arkansas native, especially as he releases his second single, “Everywhere But On.”
“The follow-up single’s a song called ‘Everywhere But On’ which is actually the title track to my EP that we put out this past year,” Stell revealed to PopCulture.com. “It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written, and I cannot wait for folks to be able to hear it.”
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Stell, who almost went to Harvard Medical School instead of pursuing country music, is grateful for his success, while also refusing to take all of the credit.
“I had no idea about this beforehand, but it takes so much to have any kind of success in music,” reflected the singer. “It starts with a song, but it certainly doesn’t end with a song, and so many passionate, talented people were a part of making this song the No. 1 song in the country for a couple of weeks.”
“Prayed for You” spoke openly about Stell’s faith, something he is happy to talk about, even though he admits it is still a work in progress for him.
“It’s also something I’m very humble about,” Stell noted. “I don’t ever want to come across as someone who has all or any kind of answers in that realm. I just know, for me, that some of the lessons that I’ve learned from that realm, just in terms of persevering and sticking things out and keeping the faith, it can kind of allow good things to happen. So that’s really what that song is about.”
With “Everywhere But On” already getting heard at radio, Stell is of course hoping for a repeat of the success of “Prayed for You,” even though he will rely on someone else to tell him, since he rarely looks at the charts.
“I find it kind of distracting, because at that point, there’s really nothing I can do,” Stell said. “Once the music’s out there, I kind of just have to trust my team to be the ones to make stuff happen, and I’m not able to add anything to the process, so I just kind of try to enjoy the ride and soak it up, and it was a crazy ride, for sure.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Monarch Publicity / Matthew Berinato