Matt Connarton Unleashed 10-17-26 hour 3

0:01 Speaker 1: W-M-N-H, rip the knob off.

0:29 Speaker 2: I thought I knew, knew better than that But your smile and.

0:32 Speaker 3: My face talk behind your back Give.

0:34 Speaker 2: Me what you want, don't say.

0:36 Speaker 3: I didn't First time I seen all you acting friends Dead end, going back on what you used to say Then heard you call me what you.

0:48 Speaker 2: Used to call them I don't.

0:50 Speaker 4: Really understand the problem You're the problem Foolish of me, I used to trust you.

0:59 Speaker 3: Wish I knew then, you've got issues.

1:02 Speaker 2: Knife behind your back, guess I was blind.

1:05 Speaker 5: Secretly jealous of me.

1:07 Speaker 6: The whole time.

1:08 Speaker 7: Your two-face needs to get your story straight.

1:11 Speaker 3: I got the screenshot, but you won't see it to my face.

1:15 Speaker 8: When you see me, it's.

1:16 Speaker 9: A different energy.

1:18 Speaker 2: Try to test me.

1:21 Speaker 3: I thought I knew, knew better than that But you smiled in my face, talked behind my back Gave you what you wanted, said I didn't First time I seen girl, you act different.

1:34 Speaker 10: I thought I knew, knew better than.

1:36 Speaker 3: That But you smiled in my face, talked behind my back Gave you what you wanted, said.

1:44 Speaker 2: I didn't First time I seen girl, you act.

1:47 Speaker 3: Different And going back on what you used to say Then heard you call me what you used to call them I don't really understand the problem You're the problem Didn't think I'd hear What you did.

2:16 Speaker 5: Dead end, going back.

2:22 Speaker 6: On what you used.

2:23 Speaker 2: To say, then.

2:47 Speaker 4: We'll be right back.

2:59 Speaker 3: Gave you what you want, don't say I didn't First time I seen, girl, you act different I thought I knew, knew better than that But you smiled in my face, walked behind my back Gave you what you want, don't say I didn't First.

3:15 Speaker 5: Time I seen, girl, you act different Thank you.

4:17 Speaker 11: Wait another day Before you look around Put away all the forgery.

4:22 Speaker 9: No, you'll never hear the sound.

4:25 Speaker 11: Test is coming soon Coming either way Dig a ditch in the back So you can pull yourself.

4:32 Speaker 12: Away Got a better word Tell you what to do Put it in the heart of a stone Till it gives it back to you When you take.

5:16 Speaker 11: It out You'll know what to say Quiet off all the things That you need to give away.

5:36 Speaker 5: In your stone Stand strong Let the circles form.

5:47 Speaker 11: Mountain trees That fall apart The Hidden Gem You're gonna find Would you do that mountain That you're never gonna climb Try to keep a pace With the elephant.

6:46 Speaker 12: As you walk into that hole That's covered up with.

6:49 Speaker 6: Snakes Well, baby, life has its twists and turns Times when you're feeling down.

8:01 Speaker 10: And when you want.

8:02 Speaker 6: To give up And throw it to the ground Yeah, I've been.

8:09 Speaker 1: There before.

8:12 Speaker 8: Lord only knows it's true.

8:16 Speaker 10: Gave up a few times.

8:17 Speaker 6: Myself and didn't pull it through looking back it's clearer.

8:25 Speaker 4: Now all that I've been through makes a great road.

8:29 Speaker 13: Sign for you hold up your head now baby hold up your head now eyes on the prize get across that finish line strong.

9:01 Speaker 6: When I watch you grow Trying hard to find your way.

9:09 Speaker 1: Falling down and looking around.

9:12 Speaker 14: What should I say?

9:16 Speaker 8: Looking back, it's clearer.

9:18 Speaker 13: Now Hold up your head now, baby. Hold up your head now.

9:29 Speaker 15: Eyes on the prize.

9:31 Speaker 10: Get across that finish line.

9:37 Speaker 8: What should I do? Be strong. What should I do? Make it tough for no reason.

9:46 Speaker 9: What should I do?

9:48 Speaker 8: Be strong.

9:50 Speaker 16: What should I do?

9:51 Speaker 8: Save you first, give you easy.

9:53 Speaker 10: What should I do?

9:55 Speaker 2: Be strong.

9:58 Speaker 10: What should I do? Show the way. cast a shadow.

10:01 Speaker 2: What should I do?

10:03 Speaker 10: Be strong.

10:05 Speaker 1: What should I do?

10:07 Speaker 15: Make you strong.

10:11 Speaker 1: Looking back, it's clearer now.

10:14 Speaker 17: All that I've been through makes a great road sign for you.

10:19 Speaker 13: Hold up your head now, baby. Hold up your head now.

10:24 Speaker 10: Eyes on the bright.

10:26 Speaker 13: Better cross that finish line.

10:30 Speaker 15: Strong.

10:34 Speaker 2: Hold up your.

10:35 Speaker 15: Head now, baby.

10:37 Speaker 13: Hold up your head now.

10:39 Speaker 10: Eyes on the prize.

10:40 Speaker 2: Get up on that finish line.

10:42 Speaker 13: We can struggle.

11:09 Speaker 7: Welcome, everybody. We have entered our number three Numero Trace of Matt Connerton Unleashed, and we are live from the studios of WMNH 95.3 FM in glorious Manchester, New Hampshire. And, of course, you can stream the show from anywhere. Go to my website, mattconnertonunleashed.com, for all your live streaming options, social media links, contact info, show archives, et cetera, et cetera. We just heard Strong by the great Mark Winters, who is here with us. We're going to be speaking with him in just a couple of minutes, and he's going to play live for us.

11:38 Speaker 7: So really looking forward to that. By the way, do you need a ride? Check out Xtrilly, now available in New Hampshire. Booking is simple, and the price you see is the price you pay. One clear price, no surprises. So whether you're going out for the evening or you just need a ride across town, give Xtrilli a try. I'm going to spell that for you. It's X-T-R-I-L-L-I. X-T-R-I-L-L-I dot com slash ride 953. If you want to sign up, and I suggest you do, we are very honored and pleased to have them as one of our official sponsors of Matt Connerton Unleashed and our roster of great sponsors here at WMNH 95.3 FM.

12:21 Speaker 7: That is Xtrilly.com slash ride 953. And I am going to go ahead and get these mics up. Now, we're using the other microphones because... He's going to be playing live for us, but let's see. Let's see here. Mark, go ahead and say something.

12:41 Speaker 9: What's going on, Matt?

12:43 Speaker 7: I can hear you.

12:44 Speaker 9: That is Connerton Unleashed, brother.

12:46 Speaker 7: That is excellent. Welcome back, my friend. You were on with us before, but I feel it was a while ago, right? It had to be at least a year ago.

12:53 Speaker 8: Yeah, I was thinking about the same thing. It's been a minute for sure.

12:57 Speaker 9: Many roads, many miles on the roads since the last time we had a chance to chat.

13:03 Speaker 7: Have you been touring pretty nonstop?

13:06 Speaker 9: Yeah, I do a spring and a fall tour, so I do about 150 shows in total. This is the tail end of my fall tour here for 2026.

13:18 Speaker 2: Oh, wow.

13:20 Speaker 8: I probably have at least.

13:22 Speaker 9: Maybe 40,000 miles between the last time you and I jetted. So lots of experiences and amazing people out on the road.

13:30 Speaker 7: That's incredible. So where were you before you arrived in Manchester? Where did you play last night?

13:37 Speaker 8: So Buffalo, and then.

13:42 Speaker 9: That's a good question. In between Buffalo and here, Buttonwood. I can't remember the name of the city for Buttonwood. They have this amazing arts collective that I played, Buttonwood Tree.

13:53 Speaker 7: Last night.

13:54 Speaker 9: So about maybe five hours a day I drive and catch a show most nights. So it's been a great experience so far.

14:03 Speaker 7: Is it challenging? I mean, I don't know if you've noticed, but gas is a little expensive right now. Is that a challenge when touring?

14:09 Speaker 8: It's a thing. Last year I was touring in an SUV in a trailer.

14:15 Speaker 9: That was my first year of touring and I really love being out and being off the grid on the trailer. It's really an amazing experience, but the expenses, uh, just the gas and the towing and the parking for the thing. It just became like untenable. Uh, so I did a pivot and this year I'm in, uh, I'm in a Toyota Sienna that I've converted. Um, so I still can stay off the grid if I need to. Uh, but, uh, it gets 40 miles to the gallon brother.

14:42 Speaker 8: So it's way better than the big tour rig. Um, so it's, uh, yeah. So I think gas is super expensive.

14:51 Speaker 9: Um, You know, just whatever. I mean, life is expensive, right? Groceries, everything's more expensive.

14:56 Speaker 7: That is true.

14:57 Speaker 8: It's the world we live in, you know?

14:59 Speaker 7: Yeah, just need it to stabilize. Need it to stop going up. Not necessarily lower. You know, people always say, oh, I want prices to go lower. Actually, not necessarily, because then you have deflation. You just want them to stop going up.

15:12 Speaker 8: Yeah, or you want your income to go up more than the cost of the thing, right?

15:16 Speaker 7: Exactly. Exactly. 100%. 100%. Uh, well, I'm dying to hear you play. So if you want to play something for us and then we'll, uh, then we can come back and talk some more. Cause you know, as we were saying off air and for people who don't know, who may not have heard our previous conversation, you've got a really interesting backstory. At least I think it's interesting. So I'd like to, I'd like to go over that again with you.

15:36 Speaker 8: It's definitely a bit quirky.

15:37 Speaker 9: Uh, you know, I used to be in a, an aerospace, uh, engineer, um, and, uh, picked up a guitar to sing a song for my wife for our anniversary. And, uh, um, just fell in love with the connection. It was my first experience doing anything musical other than maybe playing the recorder in elementary school. Um, so, uh, yeah, so I've been on a tear ever since I lean in more and more in, and, uh, I became a professional, uh, singer songwriter and touring artist, uh, a couple of years ago and, uh, have been just, you know, going all in and, uh, having a great time.

16:12 Speaker 9: Um, my science background sort of still influences my music.

16:17 Speaker 8: Uh, As well as my native positivity.

16:20 Speaker 6: Yes, yes.

16:21 Speaker 8: So those are kind of my things.

16:22 Speaker 9: One of the things I love to do, and the first song that I'll share with you today is when I'm out, I love just to find the beautiful spots in the world and go hiking or rollerblading or whatever and get out in the world that way. And I was out hiking with my wife in Zion National Forest.

16:45 Speaker 7: And where is that?

16:46 Speaker 8: Zion's in Utah.

16:47 Speaker 12: Okay.

16:48 Speaker 9: And so it's a, it's a, it's a beautiful, if you get a chance to go to just one national forest, I would say that's probably the best one. They have all the, all the biomes there and everything's centrally located and easy to access. And so you can pretty much roll out of the lodge and get to any kind of trail you wanted.

17:05 Speaker 7: Yeah.

17:06 Speaker 9: You know, super amazing. And my wife, she comes out like a week out of every month I'm on the road. And so we get a chance to catch some national forests along the route and kind of have a good time. And so we're out doing our thing. It's the amazing beauty of these beautiful cliffs and forests. And a couple hours in, I looked up from my revere, looking at all the beautiful things around me, and I had lost my wife.

17:39 Speaker 13: Oh!

17:39 Speaker 2: Yeah.

17:40 Speaker 9: I was like, oh my God, where is she?

17:43 Speaker 7: How does that even happen? Is she very quiet?

17:48 Speaker 8: She is very quiet. I'm tall, she's short.

17:51 Speaker 9: But what happened, I think it's very easy to get distracted by the world around you. And so she had stopped to take some pictures. I'd kept walking and both of us were sort of lost in the moment, I think. But she did not get eaten by a bear or a mountain lion or anything. It took me about 15 incredibly long minutes to find her.

18:10 Speaker 7: Oh, geez.

18:11 Speaker 9: But when I did, you know, and after I apologized for, you know, sort of losing her, I found, you know, myself thinking, you know, you got to be more mindful, Mark. You know, you're tall, she's short. You got to be more mindful not to just stride off and leave somebody. You know, and so I started thinking about that and the concept that, you know, life is better when you stay in the rhythm with the people around you, so you experience life at the same time.

18:41 Speaker 13: Right.

18:42 Speaker 8: And that turned into a song.

18:44 Speaker 5: Okay.

18:44 Speaker 9: Well, a poem first, because I love to write poetry, and then it turned into a song. Yeah, it's a song about being in that rhythm together.

18:55 Speaker 7: All right. Mark Winters, live in studio.

18:59 Speaker 8: How's our volume?

19:01 Speaker 7: Ooh, that guitar sounds nice. Yeah, really good.

19:06 Speaker 15: Guitar solo.

19:23 Speaker 1: It's all in the rhythm All in the rhythm All in the rhythm of.

19:34 Speaker 9: This life.

19:39 Speaker 10: Pine needles and blue skies. You're way up ahead. I gotta run to catch up.

19:48 Speaker 1: With you and baby.

19:49 Speaker 17: Hold your head.

19:53 Speaker 1: It's all in the rhythm all in the rhythm all in the rhythm of this.

20:04 Speaker 14: Life Crickets singing a love song Your perfume's in the air I want to stay in the moment Sometimes it's hard to be there It's all in.

20:23 Speaker 1: The rhythm All in the rhythm All.

20:29 Speaker 8: In the rhythm.

20:31 Speaker 10: Of this life Rain taps on my shoulders, drops dance on the ground. You I want to get closer to and get lost in the sounds.

21:05 Speaker 1: It's all in the rhythm, all in the rhythm. .

21:17 Speaker 10: .

21:33 Speaker 4: .

21:42 Speaker 18: On the sky.

21:58 Speaker 7: Very nice. Mark Winters is here with us live in studio and outstanding. So I want to go back to, you know, because you talked about it a little bit. You were a scientist or are a scientist. You're always a scientist, right? And then you decided, like, can you tell us more about, and again, for people who maybe didn't hear our previous conversation when you were on the show last time, about making that transition? Because that's not, you know, I mean, I don't think James Taylor started that way. You know what I mean?

22:28 Speaker 8: Like, that's a big shift. You know, I don't know. I guess a couple of things.

22:37 Speaker 9: You know, I've always... love just trying things out, you know? And so I have a, you know, a long history of just, you know, something new. I want to learn to paint or I want to go surfing or whatever, you know, I just try the new things. And so most of my life I've just been very exploratory in that way. And, you know, I wasn't really looking for a change in careers, right? I mean, I was, I love math. I love science. I love solving problems. I mean, you know, aerospace engineering, I love building aircraft and, You know, it's I Love Flying.

23:08 Speaker 9: You know, all that stuff was sort of, you know, part of a culmination of just growing up with those loves. But, you know, I wanted to try something musical. That was kind of the idea. And so I said, you know, I put it on my list. I'm a big list checker offer. I don't know if you're a list checker offer yourself, Matt. But I put it on the list. I'm going to do it this year. And it got to be May, and I hadn't done anything musical.

23:34 Speaker 7: So I'm like, okay.

23:36 Speaker 8: Let's get with it.

23:37 Speaker 9: And so I decided, all right, well, uh, let me just buy a guitar and sing a song for my wife for our anniversary.

23:43 Speaker 7: Yeah.

23:44 Speaker 9: Um, and so I, I found a local guitar shop and, and, uh, bought the guitar from the guy who agreed to teach me to play a song cause I didn't have any musical experience.

23:53 Speaker 18: Yeah.

23:54 Speaker 9: Um, and then when we got out in our favorite Italian restaurant, I surprised my wife by bringing my guitar in and singing a song to her, you know? Um, It's a long story that goes with that. But, you know, the important bit for me was when I was playing the song for her, it's like the world vanished. It was me and her, even though everyone in the restaurant had pulled their chairs around like an audience.

24:19 Speaker 2: Oh, no kidding.

24:20 Speaker 8: Yeah, it was pretty cool. But like the world vanished.

24:23 Speaker 9: And it was just me and her in this musical moment together, like we were riding a wave at the same time.

24:29 Speaker 8: It's like, oh, my God. This is an amazing feeling.

24:31 Speaker 7: And just to be clear, she was cool with it? Because some women would be mortified.

24:36 Speaker 9: She had no idea I was going to do it.

24:39 Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah.

24:39 Speaker 9: So when I went out, I said, I left something in the car. And she's used to me surprising her with flowers and whatever else. So she thought it was something like that. I came in with the guitar.

24:47 Speaker 8: She's like.

24:48 Speaker 9: what the heck is that? Are you going to rob the place? Uh, but, uh, she was cool. Uh, it was definitely weird cause she didn't know I was practicing. She didn't know I'd bought it.

25:00 Speaker 8: Nothing. It was all a surprise to her.

25:01 Speaker 7: Okay.

25:02 Speaker 8: Um, but she was cool.

25:04 Speaker 9: Um, and she always, she's good at like reading the intent of a thing I'm doing.

25:09 Speaker 7: Okay.

25:09 Speaker 8: And so she knew it was me honoring her.

25:12 Speaker 5: Right.

25:12 Speaker 3: Yeah.

25:14 Speaker 9: Um, So, you know, this feeling I got afterwards was like, oh, you know, I'm thinking to myself back in my normal day, like, wow, that was really incredible. What was it? Was it the guitar? Was it the song? Was it her?

25:31 Speaker 8: Was it the restaurant?

25:32 Speaker 9: You know, what was it that really gave me that, you know, I don't know, transcendent feeling I had never had in my life?

25:40 Speaker 7: Yeah.

25:41 Speaker 9: And so I got on this journey. Okay, I started playing guitar. I met some other guys. We put a band together, started doing the thing. And I found over time that, you know, it was, you know, the words, when I'm singing, the words matter to me. And so when I was singing, that's where I was starting to get some of that feeling when I put it together with something I was playing, piano or guitar. And so I started on this journey of, But I wasn't writing original music at the time. I was teaching myself music.

26:13 Speaker 9: I was playing covers.

26:14 Speaker 8: And I found I couldn't sing words that I didn't agree with.

26:19 Speaker 7: Okay.

26:20 Speaker 6: Right?

26:20 Speaker 8: And so that sort of led me to starting.

26:21 Speaker 9: To write my own music. But, you know, you don't know if you can do a thing. You pick up your guitar, you're playing, hanging out. You're like, okay, well, it's fun.

26:31 Speaker 6: Right?

26:31 Speaker 8: But I didn't think about it as a career.

26:34 Speaker 18: Right?

26:36 Speaker 7: I want to stop on that for a second because I'm curious about something. I don't know if I asked you this before. Being a scientist, do you feel that that helped you learn to play guitar? Because, I mean, music theory is math. Probably why I don't know any music theory. I'm a bass player, but I just play. But music theory is math. Do you think that that was helpful to you, your background in science?

27:01 Speaker 9: I've had this discussion with lots of friends of mine who are sort of in music. Or in the sciences. So I think the answer is probably yes for the physical instrument.

27:14 Speaker 5: Yeah.

27:14 Speaker 9: So when I started learning to play guitar or piano, even when I started, like, I bought some college classes online to teach myself music theory.

27:23 Speaker 7: Yeah.

27:25 Speaker 9: So, like, for 10 bucks these days, you can buy a full college course on music theory one, right?

27:30 Speaker 7: Oh, yeah.

27:30 Speaker 9: So I taught myself music theory one, just this video course. But what I found is, like, Music theory and the instrument and the discipline needed to play an instrument, those go hand in glove with someone in the sciences because you have to have kind of a disciplined mind in the sciences. And so I found a lot of help on the guitar, on the piano, and compositionally from my science background. But singing was the polar opposite of all of that.

28:04 Speaker 18: Really?

28:05 Speaker 7: Interesting.

28:06 Speaker 9: It's like, okay, when I started singing, what's my experience? Singing happy birthday, I don't know, Frere Jacques, whatever, right?

28:15 Speaker 8: Nothing normal.

28:16 Speaker 9: And so when I started singing, in the beginning, you're just sort of belting it out. You're like, well, why don't I sound good?

28:23 Speaker 7: Right, right.

28:25 Speaker 9: And so you watch some courses. I bought a couple of courses online trying to take the same approach.

28:29 Speaker 6: Terrible.

28:31 Speaker 8: Terrible. It's a terrible way to learn to sing.

28:34 Speaker 5: Interesting.

28:34 Speaker 9: Singing is like this body experience, a mind and body experience, and it has nothing to do with math and science.

28:45 Speaker 8: And so you have to.

28:46 Speaker 9: Flush that out of your mind.

28:49 Speaker 13: Yeah.

28:49 Speaker 3: Right?

28:50 Speaker 7: Yeah.

28:51 Speaker 8: Now, the discipline part is super helpful.

28:54 Speaker 18: Yes.

28:55 Speaker 13: Right?

28:56 Speaker 8: But the rest of it, not.

28:57 Speaker 9: Actually, I found a vocal coach, a local vocal coach, and started learning, which was phenomenal. Um, and so for me, uh, that part was just not math and science oriented. And then I think maybe, um, when you're composing music, um, you know, uh, like I start with like an emotional intent when I'm writing. Um, and that, then that sort of manifests itself maybe in some poetry or maybe some free texts that I write against the topic to kind of organize my thoughts. Um, But there's an emotional intent behind what I'm preparing.

29:33 Speaker 14: Yeah.

29:33 Speaker 8: And it iterates.

29:35 Speaker 9: As I'm writing the song or whatever. But you know, just getting the emotional elements into the melody and the words is a very non-scientific thing.

29:47 Speaker 4: Yeah.

29:49 Speaker 6: Right?

29:49 Speaker 9: So you're like, you know, I went to a songwriting retreat, my first formal education about three years ago in Austin. This gal, Andrea Stolpe, she said, really amazing writer and teacher. She does seminars throughout the U.S., but I went to this retreat for a week.

30:06 Speaker 8: And I learned a.

30:08 Speaker 9: Ton about writing and professionals, and everybody there was a professional, and I learned a lot about what a professional songwriter or artist, what's the skill that they possess that allows you to sort of create, and I found You have to have the mastery of your instrument, your physical instrument, your guitar, your piano, whatever. You have to have a mastery of your voice. And you have to have a mastery of lyrical writing. And you've got to be able to do them all simultaneously.

30:39 Speaker 18: Right.

30:40 Speaker 6: Right.

30:41 Speaker 9: And so I learned a lot about where the gaps in my preparation were.

30:45 Speaker 19: Yeah.

30:45 Speaker 9: And what I needed to learn. And once I kind of got all that stuff together, when I start writing now, it's a very organic process.

30:53 Speaker 18: Okay.

30:53 Speaker 20: Yeah.

30:54 Speaker 9: Maybe three years ago when I wrote a song, I would be sitting in front of my computer and I would put the parts in and I would do them one at a time. And here's the chords and here's the drums and here's the lyrics and here's the melody. And I would be sort of like a Frankensteining a song together. And it took me like a while.

31:12 Speaker 7: Yeah.

31:12 Speaker 8: I don't know, three or four weeks to write a song.

31:14 Speaker 7: Okay.

31:15 Speaker 6: Right.

31:15 Speaker 8: It was a lot.

31:16 Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah.

31:17 Speaker 9: Now today, having figured out what's the best for me, it's like, okay, I sit down with my iPad, and my voice recorder on my phone, and I just start playing and getting through it, and three hours later, I got a song.

31:35 Speaker 20: Yeah.

31:36 Speaker 3: Wow.

31:36 Speaker 6: Right?

31:38 Speaker 8: And so, you know, you don't know if you can do a thing.

31:42 Speaker 9: The math and science helps me learn it, right? But it doesn't, you know, in my mind, it didn't really tell me That it was a good career choice.

31:53 Speaker 13: Right.

31:53 Speaker 18: Right.

31:54 Speaker 8: OK, I'm starting to learn that I can do the thing.

31:56 Speaker 7: Yeah.

31:57 Speaker 9: And I started playing out more. I played a showcase at South by Southwest, I think, in 23. And that's I got some great feedback from the showcase. It wasn't just your mom or your friends telling you.

32:11 Speaker 7: Right.

32:12 Speaker 9: You got it. You know, it was people, like professional people telling you, okay, you know, you got something in there.

32:17 Speaker 7: Well, was that kind of the moment where you thought, okay, this, I can do this?

32:22 Speaker 19: Yes.

32:23 Speaker 6: Yeah.

32:23 Speaker 8: It was the moment where like, okay, I'm out. Yeah, you don't really know.

32:29 Speaker 9: I'm going to call it like these journeyman professions, right, where you don't really know you can do the thing, right, until, you know, you've done it enough.

32:38 Speaker 5: Right.

32:39 Speaker 6: Right. Right.

32:39 Speaker 9: To know that, you know, OK, well, you could write a song, but did people actually like your song?

32:44 Speaker 6: Right.

32:45 Speaker 8: And it was unique enough, you know, to have a brand around it.

32:49 Speaker 18: Yeah.

32:49 Speaker 8: And so you start learning some of these things.

32:52 Speaker 9: And so I think for me, that was sort of when I knew, OK, I mean, I could I could play cover songs around town.

33:00 Speaker 8: I knew that.

33:01 Speaker 9: But, you know, here's my original set and people liked it and they came up afterwards. And a couple of people asked me to, you know, get. to book me for a tour. Uh, and so it's like, okay, well there's something there.

33:14 Speaker 5: Yeah.

33:15 Speaker 9: Um, and so, uh, for me, that was the moment that was the moment I knew like, okay, well I can do this professionally.

33:20 Speaker 13: Yes.

33:21 Speaker 8: Um, and, uh, and here I am, whatever, three years later, right? Doing the thing.

33:26 Speaker 7: You are, you are. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, do you want to play another song for us? Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you're just joining us, Mark Winters is here with us live in studio.

33:37 Speaker 8: So my wife, she married an aerospace engineer.

33:49 Speaker 3: Yes.

33:49 Speaker 7: You know what I mean?

33:50 Speaker 9: With a.

33:53 Speaker 8: Regular job and a regular paycheck.

33:56 Speaker 18: Yep.

33:59 Speaker 8: And she had to put up with me pivoting. Lots of stories in there for sure. But to say.

34:07 Speaker 9: To say thank you for sticking with me now that I have an irregular job and an irregular paycheck. I wrote her this nerdy little love song, which when I played it for her the first time, she said, oh, that's pretty nerdy.

34:26 Speaker 7: Really?

34:26 Speaker 8: I was like, okay.

34:30 Speaker 9: But it is a profession of love, so I'm going to put the song out anyway.

34:35 Speaker 5: Okay.

34:36 Speaker 9: And it became one of my top streaming songs on Spotify. It's about the forces of attraction and how they are stronger than physics.

34:52 Speaker 8: I put as many nerdy little words in it as I could.

35:10 Speaker 2: Thank you.

35:37 Speaker 10: Standing on a cliff looking down at the ocean's brink. I feel a new weight pulling down. Something's changed. If everything's black or white, why do neurons fly through my mind?

35:50 Speaker 6: I can feel our worlds collide when you whisper close.

35:54 Speaker 10: I'm accelerating out of reality. Maybe gravity's fate.

36:02 Speaker 8: You lift me up.

36:05 Speaker 10: You hold It don't make sense, but it's truer now than any.

36:11 Speaker 14: Force on earth.

36:13 Speaker 10: Too strong to break.

36:15 Speaker 17: And if you're really real, maybe gravity's fake.

36:21 Speaker 15: Ooh.

36:26 Speaker 5: Whoa. Ooh.

36:29 Speaker 15: Whoa.

36:37 Speaker 10: Vertigo can take a back seat You make me lose control You like too much of a good thing And I won't let go When the full moon changes the tides Let it pull your body to mine I can feel our worlds collide When you whisper.

36:54 Speaker 17: Close I'm accelerating Out of reality Maybe gravity's.

37:00 Speaker 5: Fate You lift me up.

37:04 Speaker 10: You hold me down Makes sense, but it's truer now than any force on earth Too strong.

37:14 Speaker 17: To break And if you're really real, maybe gravity's fake.

37:20 Speaker 15: Ooh, whoa Ooh, whoa.

37:37 Speaker 10: Like metal to a magnet It's like air but I can grab it And I'm down with the static I stay shocked by the way you You lift me up You.

37:52 Speaker 16: Hold me down It don't make sense But it's truer now than any force on earth Too.

38:02 Speaker 17: Strong to break If you're really real, maybe gravity's fake.

38:10 Speaker 15: If you're really.

38:24 Speaker 17: Real, maybe gravity's fake.

38:45 Speaker 8: Maybe gravity's fake, man.

38:47 Speaker 7: Very cool, very cool. Mark Winter is here with us live in studio. And, well, hopefully she's listening.

38:54 Speaker 8: Well, I'm hopeful.

38:55 Speaker 9: She's heard that one. That's another thing you have to kind of get used to. I never had to worry about that in engineering. I never came home and talked about calculus when I was at home, right? But, you know, I guess in the world of the arts. Your family gets exposed to your art often. I had a really good buddy of mine, one of the graybeards who helped me sort of learn the singer-songwriter ways, Ken Gaines. And he shared with me a ton of amazing little tidbits for the career in music. And one of them was, do not expect your friends and your family to be your fans.

39:37 Speaker 9: Which is, it took me a year to process that, Matt. It was like, what does that really mean? Because the first time I create art, Right. My my earliest artistic experience was my grandmother teaching me to write poetry.

39:54 Speaker 5: OK.

39:55 Speaker 8: And so I remember when when I wrote my first poem, I wanted to read it for her.

40:04 Speaker 13: Yeah. Right.

40:04 Speaker 8: And we became poetry pals and there was an understanding.

40:07 Speaker 5: Right.

40:10 Speaker 9: That was my first thought when I write a new song. Hey, I want to share it with my wife.

40:15 Speaker 18: Right. Right.

40:15 Speaker 8: And I want to share with everybody that I know, all my friends.

40:18 Speaker 18: Right.

40:19 Speaker 9: And Ken was like, no, they may not like your music. They may not like your genre of music.

40:26 Speaker 2: Right.

40:27 Speaker 8: You didn't become a friend of theirs for them to listen to your music.

40:32 Speaker 7: Yeah.

40:32 Speaker 8: Now, if that's a vibe, if they happen, if they just happen to like it.

40:35 Speaker 13: Yeah.

40:36 Speaker 8: Then that's OK.

40:38 Speaker 7: But there is something weird about that, though.

40:40 Speaker 6: Right.

40:40 Speaker 7: Like like it's like, you know, you would hope that it's funny because so I won't say who it is because I cannot remember if this was an on air interview. or an off-air conversation but there's a there's a co-host on another show here at the station and i won't be any more specific than that who um who's a very talented singer-songwriter and well actually he plays mostly covers but i think he's written his own stuff too but he's like he said one night on on that show again i'm not sure if it was on air or off air but he said um yeah, my wife's never, she never sees me, she never comes see me play live.

41:12 Speaker 7: She takes zero interest in it, in what I'm doing with music. And it's like, when I hear someone say that, it's like, really? Like, it just seems odd.

41:23 Speaker 8: Doesn't it seem odd?

41:24 Speaker 9: Okay, so, but my wife and I, you know, I guess, interestingly enough, I'm an adult coming into this career pivot.

41:31 Speaker 8: And so, you know, the change... is more visceral for both she and I, right?

41:37 Speaker 9: So it's like, okay, well, you know, I never would have come to her saying, I need your validation in this airplane design or this business deal, right? And that wasn't, that's not the thing, right? And so, you know, as I'm writing music, you know, I'm learning a ton about friendships and boundaries in friendships because, you know, the first thing, I want to do a share, but it's like, okay. So I, I following my friend Ken's advice, it's like, okay, people, if they want to join my email list or they want to follow me or they want to come to a show, you know, that's awesome, but it's never a requirement and I don't talk about it.

42:19 Speaker 7: Right.

42:20 Speaker 9: Unless they talk, they bring it up to me. Like, I'd love to come to a show. When's your next show?

42:25 Speaker 7: Right.

42:25 Speaker 6: Right.

42:26 Speaker 9: And that, and my, my friendships are, are much more healthy today than they were when I first started.

42:30 Speaker 8: Cause I was just, you know, obsessed.

42:32 Speaker 9: And then the other thing is, You know, my wife had to deal with me, you know, learning all the stuff and whatever.

42:37 Speaker 8: And I think.

42:40 Speaker 9: When you're creative, there's a passion element in what you do. And if you're not careful, your partner can get neglected or your partner can be jealous, right?

42:56 Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. Both.

42:57 Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Right?

42:58 Speaker 8: And so for me, like, keeping.

43:03 Speaker 9: my obsession in its box was a journey that my wife and I had to go on together.

43:10 Speaker 2: Okay.

43:10 Speaker 9: Like how much time, because I'm, I'm learning. And so I have to go through all the 10,000 steps of learning.

43:16 Speaker 18: Right.

43:16 Speaker 9: And so I had to go through this journey with her. Like, how do I keep it in its box so that it doesn't just eat up every moment of my consciousness. And she was super helpful and, sometimes the carrot, sometimes the stick. Right, right.

43:31 Speaker 8: But she was super helpful in helping me dial that in.

43:34 Speaker 7: Yeah.

43:35 Speaker 9: And I think that's an important element. And so, yeah, now she, my understanding with her is like, don't come to a show.

43:44 Speaker 18: Really?

43:44 Speaker 9: Don't come to a show unless you really want to come because she knows about them all.

43:49 Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah.

43:50 Speaker 9: Or if you really, if I really need you there for some reason, I'm going to tell you. Like, this show, I really need you to show up for me, to support me. And it's like an emotional support element, not I need you to buy a ticket.

44:03 Speaker 18: Right.

44:04 Speaker 7: Right.

44:04 Speaker 18: Yeah.

44:05 Speaker 13: Right.

44:05 Speaker 8: Um, and so that's been, that's been great.

44:08 Speaker 9: Uh, so I've grown a lot and our relationship has, has evolved to allow for those kinds of things to happen. Uh, but yeah, it's, it's kind of weird because, uh, like my friends, when they're doing something artistic, because I'm thinking with the mind of an artist, right. I want to, I want to greet their project wherever it is, and I want to give them some feedback. Like, oh, Matt, this is cool. Look at this cool drawing you just did. I love it.

44:32 Speaker 8: Here are some things I like about it.

44:33 Speaker 9: And so it's like I'm receiving it as an artist and giving you some feedback on it.

44:40 Speaker 2: Right, right.

44:41 Speaker 8: So, yeah, an interesting journey. I never had to do any of that in engineering at all.

44:45 Speaker 7: Right, right.

44:46 Speaker 8: But it's been a fun time for sure.

44:49 Speaker 7: Do you ever miss anything about your, this I do remember asking you last time, but I mean, obviously you're very happy doing what you're doing now, but is there ever any part of you that misses what you used to do?

44:59 Speaker 9: Yeah, you know, I think I have lots of podcasts, you know, Science Friday and Discovery Weekly. So I listen a lot to what's happening in the world of the sciences. Yeah. So I have a curious mind still. You know, I think there's so much more depth in music, um, that fits me more naturally. So the, the creative side, there's a lot of technical elements in me, in music. Um, you know, building a career is like, you know, it's a, it's a 90 hour a week thing.

45:38 Speaker 8: I mean, in the arts it's, it's so competitive.

45:42 Speaker 9: It's so, uh, difficult to learn all the right skills and tools.

45:47 Speaker 7: And, Like you said, it becomes an obsession because it really has to.

45:50 Speaker 9: Yeah, and so how do you keep it in its place? How do you do everything you can to sort of give yourself every possible opportunity or chance? So, yeah, I don't say, like, I don't think I miss, I guess I'm a challenge-oriented person, and I like to grow and be stimulated in new areas. And so music has so many more of those benefits bits than engineering. I don't know if I miss it. At this moment, I haven't missed it yet. How about that? That's good. You maybe miss the regular paycheck that comes with it.

46:26 Speaker 9: Maybe that's the thing you miss the most. It's been a great transition for me thus far.

46:33 Speaker 7: If you're just joining us, Mark Winters is here with us live in studio. Mark, this might be foolish to ask you this question this late in the show, but because you are a scientist, I am very curious. It's a big subject. That's why I say I'm asking this question very late in the show. But you probably guessed what I'm about to ask you. AI in music. Any thoughts?

46:57 Speaker 8: Oh, my goodness.

47:00 Speaker 18: Yeah.

47:01 Speaker 8: So a couple of things.

47:04 Speaker 9: One is I'm very involved in the Songwriting Association back in Houston.

47:09 Speaker 5: Oh, good.

47:09 Speaker 9: And we've had many, many a debate.

47:11 Speaker 7: I can imagine.

47:12 Speaker 8: About this topic.

47:13 Speaker 7: Yeah.

47:15 Speaker 9: And I think from my days in engineering, I learned a lot about sort of technology washing through an area. And what do the remnants look like?

47:30 Speaker 8: Right, as it washes through.

47:32 Speaker 9: And so I have this perspective because I've seen it sort of just have these humongous changes in industry, in the sciences in particular. And so I have two views. So the engineer in me is like, yeah, AI's here, it's coming, it's going to wash through everything, right? Where do I think everything's going to go is an important part of that conversation. I'm sort of thinking about that. And so the scientist in me has this observational element to it, and I can sort of see it and see what it's good at and what it's not good at.

48:05 Speaker 9: As an example, I use AI to help with tour routing, tour booking, what hotel am I going to stay at.

48:12 Speaker 8: It's phenomenal.

48:13 Speaker 7: Oh, yeah.

48:14 Speaker 8: It's way better than I ever was at all that sort of thing.

48:17 Speaker 5: Sure.

48:17 Speaker 18: Right.

48:18 Speaker 9: And so just simplistically, maybe I got back an hour and a half a day of my time just with.

48:27 Speaker 8: tour logistics and.

48:31 Speaker 9: Where am I staying, management, all that stuff. It's really given me a lot of time back. On the creative side, the poet in me, the philosopher in me is like, okay, well,

48:42 Speaker 9: we used to do this, we used to do that, we used to do the other. Now AI is doing that and it's doing seemingly better in many aspects. I guess I'm torn and on the AI front. And in our songwriting association, we sort of had this debate about what is songwriting in particular. In my mind, lyric and melody, maybe a meaningful hook, that's the songwriting part. And so if it's not that, then as a writer and an artist, I have less skin in the game for production, as an example.

49:27 Speaker 7: Yeah.

49:28 Speaker 6: Right?

49:29 Speaker 9: And so there's so many cool tools now. As a writer, I can write my music and arrange it, and I can use... lots of AI to help me in the production phase to play around with different production to find the best version of the song.

49:46 Speaker 8: It would have cost me.

49:49 Speaker 9: Thousands of dollars around every song to try to find the right vision for the song. But my friends who are producers are like, AI production, that's terrible. I don't care who wrote it. That's their view. AI can write it, but I want to produce it. I think it's like we all have our own little bias inside Yeah, of course. My own personal view is the creative element that's important to me is the writing of the lyric and the melody and the general arrangement. And so for those things, I do them all myself, right?

50:26 Speaker 9: And so I have my, I told you my writing process earlier, I do the thing.

50:29 Speaker 8: And then once I'm.

50:29 Speaker 9: Through the thing, you know, this year I've been taking those and playing around a little bit in Suno with them to see what kind of arrangement I might like, right?

50:40 Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah.

50:40 Speaker 9: But I've yet to do anything more than, like, exploratory. All my songs, you know, humans played all the instruments and all the things I've released. Everything's been sort of a human final product, the masters and whatnot.

50:51 Speaker 7: Yeah.

50:52 Speaker 9: But, yeah, and I wrote a song about the dichotomy in my brain about this very topic.

51:00 Speaker 7: Oh, really? Yeah, yeah.

51:01 Speaker 8: It's called What Does It Mean to Be Human?

51:05 Speaker 5: Okay, okay.

51:07 Speaker 7: Do you want to play it?

51:08 Speaker 9: Yeah, let me do that.

51:09 Speaker 7: We have time.

51:10 Speaker 8: That's a good segue into that.

51:12 Speaker 7: Yeah, I'd love to. I'm super curious to hear it now, especially given that conversation.

51:18 Speaker 8: Yeah, it's.

51:24 Speaker 9: Certainly my brain's thought around using AI, but then wondering, okay, What's next for the human race?

51:37 Speaker 7: Right, right.

51:38 Speaker 8: For me in particular.

51:39 Speaker 7: Yeah.

51:48 Speaker 10: What does it mean to be human anyway? What does it mean.

51:55 Speaker 9: To be human anyway?

52:04 Speaker 19: Just make it easy for me And tell me what to say Take all the steps for me And show.

52:16 Speaker 8: Me where to pray.

52:19 Speaker 19: Just tell me how I.

52:21 Speaker 10: Should think How to scroll and make the best link How to break the ice, cause I never learned Yeah.

52:31 Speaker 2: That would be nice.

52:38 Speaker 10: Take my troubles away Help me to connect Tell me what to say Electrons take me closer But I feel further away Take my troubles away Help me to connect Tell me what to say What to do Why I should stay And not just drift away What does it mean to be human anyway? What does it mean to be human anyway? Think I'll just put it down Walk away and find some peace What.

53:29 Speaker 19: If I miss the sounds?

53:33 Speaker 1: Will you be there for me?

53:37 Speaker 10: Take my troubles away Help me to connect Tell me what to say Electrons take me closer.

53:46 Speaker 20: But I feel further away Take my troubles away Help me to connect Tell me what to say What to do Why I should stay and not just drift away.

54:04 Speaker 10: What does it mean to be human anyway? What does it mean to.

54:13 Speaker 2: Be human anyway?

54:16 Speaker 15: If electrons took me.

54:23 Speaker 10: Closer What would I miss?

54:30 Speaker 15: If electrons took me closer What would I miss?

54:52 Speaker 10: Take my troubles away.

54:55 Speaker 1: Help me to connect.

54:57 Speaker 10: Tell me what to say.

54:58 Speaker 20: Electrons take me closer, but I feel further away.

55:06 Speaker 10: Take my troubles away. Help me to connect. Tell me what to say, what to do. Why I should stay and not just drift away What does it mean to be human anyway? What does it mean to be human anyway?

55:40 Speaker 7: Oh, very cool. I love it. I love it. Mark Winter is here with us live in the studio. This has been wonderful. It's great to see you. Great to have you here. Where do you go next after this?

55:52 Speaker 9: I'm headed to Boston. I've got some shows in the Boston area for the next two or three days.

55:57 Speaker 7: Outstanding.

55:58 Speaker 9: And just enjoying being out on the East Coast here. Then I drop down to Florida, and I have a final run down the Gulf Coast area. Uh, back to Houston, November 10th is the last, or I guess November 9th is my last show.

56:13 Speaker 7: Okay.

56:13 Speaker 9: So it's the 10th.

56:14 Speaker 8: I'm back, back home in, uh, in Houston.

56:16 Speaker 7: Okay. And then, uh, back home for how long? Like how long do you take between, uh, between runs?

56:22 Speaker 9: Yeah. You know, it's been, uh, uh, like a, a, a March, late March start for the tour. And then I take a break for the summer. So about 70 days on tour.

56:32 Speaker 1: Okay.

56:33 Speaker 9: Um, and then I take a break. So I'll be on break in the fall until, uh, March, like middle or end of March.

56:39 Speaker 7: Yeah.

56:41 Speaker 9: And then back out on the road again, headed west. So my spring tours west and north.

56:46 Speaker 5: Okay.

56:47 Speaker 8: And fall tours is east and north.

56:49 Speaker 19: Okay.

56:49 Speaker 7: Very good. Very good. And where's the best place to go online to keep up with everything that you're doing?

56:54 Speaker 8: Everything Mark Winters.

56:55 Speaker 9: Yeah. MarkWintersMusic.com. You can find everything there. You can find me under my name on any of your favorite listening platforms. Um, and, uh, if you want a little extra positive energy, uh, in your life, uh, you can join the positive vibe tribe, which is my email group.

57:16 Speaker 17: Okay.

57:16 Speaker 8: Uh, get updates there as well.

57:18 Speaker 7: Okay. Outstanding. Outstanding. Mark, thank you so much. And thank you to everybody who joined us, uh, today on the program. We had a very busy show. Elizabeth Ropp and Jeff Davis were here. And then we had, uh, let's see then, uh, Adam Zane, and oh, I'm sorry, and then God's Go First, and then Adam Zane, and then, of course, Mark Winters. This is a busy one today, Mark, but this is a perfect way to end the show. Thank you so much, my friend.

57:38 Speaker 8: Matt, thank you so much for having me, man. I really appreciate it.

57:41 Speaker 7: Absolutely. And if you miss any part of today's show, it will be up in just a little bit. You can find it at WMNHradio.org, or at my website, MattConnerton.com, or the new website, MattConnertonUnleashed.com. And that is it for us for now. We'll talk to you all a little bit later. Bye, everybody.

57:58 Speaker 18: You're listening to Matt Connerton Unleashed on WMNH 95.3. You are listening to WMNH LP, Manchester's radio. Broadcasting from the top of 1000 Elm Street, our studios are located at 119 Canal Street and licensed to Manchester Public Television Service in Manchester, New Hampshire.

58:24 Speaker 17: Contact us by email at WMNH953 at gmail.com or through our website at WMNHradio.org.