Little Rebellion Music

Few people will associate Long Island with country music but Lisa Matassa is working on changing that. After receiving very positive responses to her country debut, Sunrise Highway, Matassa is releasing her new EP today, Somebody’s Baby.

Packed with rock-influenced country tunes, impressive cover songs, and her outstanding vocal performances, the EP is a confident showcase of Matassa’s talent as a performer and a songwriter. She is carving out a pretty unique path and I was interested in finding out more about her story. We met up at a Nashville hotel to chat about the new disc, country music in Long Island, and the challenges of being an independent artist.

To find out more about Lisa Matassa, be sure to visit lisamatassa.com.

UCN: What has it been like bringing your music to Nashville? How has the reception been?
Lisa Matassa: The reception’s been great. When you think of New York you don’t think of country music, but it’s in my blood. I knew this is what I wanted to do growing up. Starting a career in country, not many people my age will take that chance but I knew I had to do this. I was tired of wondering what would have happened if I had continued that course earlier. The support of my family has been paramount, but I still made sure when I arrived here that I had all my ducks in a row. We had a video prepared, and EP, social media, and made sure we had enough contacts here. I wanted to feel I was giving it everything so I wanted to go in guns loaded. Myself and my team spoke to so many people going ‘Here’s what we have. We have this mom, a woman from Long Island, not your typical country artists but here’s the EP and tell us if the songs would be something Nashville would be interested in.’ Every door we knocked on, the support was incredible. They loved the project. I had so many doors opened for me and ended up working with Don Rollins, who wrote ‘It’s Five O’clock Somewhere,’ and Tommy Harding, who works with Reba. I met all these heavy hitters and people I admired, and they were all positive about the project. I never thought CMT would take a meeting with me, not being on a big label, but they did. I presented my first video, for ‘The Christmas Song,’ and it went #1 and was there the entire holiday season. Now, I want to see where this might lead. We started working with Larry Pareigis of Nine North Records who is really supportive of us. We have some really great representation, especially now working with Kirt Webster and Martha Moore. It makes me realize that we’re on the right path.

UCN: What do they say back home? You guys have a country radio station on Long Island now, right?
LM: People were starving for country music back there. It’s an island with 8 million people, it’s huge. I have a great fan-base in New York and the station down there is a small station in Suffolk County. It’s the other end of Long Island so there’s portion that don’t get that station. But it’s been a great support system there. Country music has kind of invaded Long Island and I’m thankful and happy to be part of that movement.

UCN: The EP is very diverse. There’s country but there’s also cover songs and some rock ‘n ‘roll.
LM: There is some rock ‘n’ roll on there, yes! *smiles* There are songs on here which were also on my Sunrise Highway EP, but we did a different version. ‘Wouldn’t You Like to Know’ is the New York version. In this business, you want to keep your name and your face out there as much as possible, so that’s why I put out an other EP. I also wanted to show off different sides of me so that’s why I included the live version of ‘I’ll Always Love You.’ It was an acoustic thing at a concert in New York with Casey James and The Farm. It was a packed house, and it was when Whitney [Houston] had just passed. I also love Dolly Parton so I thought it was a great way to honor both of them. This EP is to keep my feet in the water, so to speak, but I’m also writing for my new album which will be out in the spring.

UCN: What kind of songwriter are you?
LM: I’m more of a personal songwriter. It’s got to be from experience. I need to feel connected to the songs. I have no problem singing someone else’s songs, but I need to feel a connection. When I was presented ‘Somebody’s Baby’ I felt immediately that I needed to sing this song. I thought of my kids and how my mom calls me five or six times a day and she still considers me and my brothers to be her babies. All the songs on my album have come from a personal place. With ‘Heaven,’ I grew up listening to Bryan Adams and I just love his voice. And I love the way he writes, his lyrics touch you. I think country music especially, you can evoke an emotion from the listener, you can put yourself inside the place of that song.

UCN: This actually came up in a conversation with Bryan Adams once, that some of his songs are basically country songs.
LM: Yes, they are!

UCN: Especially about ‘Heaven,’ we’re going ‘dude, you can switch out the guitar for steel and add fiddle!’
LM: You’re right! Yes! *laughs* He is so in tune with his lyrics and it makes you form a picture in your mind. I think country music does that better than any other genre. I listen to different music of course, but when I ‘m by myself in my car, I’ll turn to country. That’s where I feel at home. It’s the music I listen to to feel inspired, to feel good.

UCN: And also, country has diversified and become a lot broader so even though it’s different, your music fits.
LM: It happened to rock years ago. You have to look at it like a tree. Rock has all these branches: pop rock, punk rock, heavy metal, etc. Now, country music has done that. It used to be one tree trunk of bluegrass and traditional music but now it’s branched out quite a bit. Now, we’ve got country rock like Keith Urban, pop country like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood, there are so many different branches and there is room for so many different kinds of country music. We’ll always have the traditional honky-tonk music but hopefully there’s room on that tree for Long Island country! *smiles*

UCN: You had pop success in the 1990s. What changes have you seen since then? There was still a lot of money around in the industry back then and all sorts of artists were getting signed. How is it now?
LM: It’s totally different. I think as an artist you have to be even more passionate about your trade. It’s so hard not to give up and it’s difficult to keep focused sometimes. But now, being older, I have so much experience under my belt that I’m not so put off by the set-backs. If that happens I just realize I will have to work a little harder, and I’m OK with that. You can also get your music out so much easier now, you can become a superstar without a record label. Thanks to the internet and social media, there are so many avenues now.

UCN: So while it’s tougher to get a deal, it’s easier to be an independent artist?
LM: Absolutely. I truly believe that but you have to keep passionate about who you are and what you want to do. You have got to live it, breathe it, drink it, sleep it. You gotta want it. I’m driven by more than that. I’m not trying to get all religious on you, but believe in God and I believe he gives everyone a special something when you’re born. For me that was the gift of voice. No matter what happens in my life, I think I will always be a singer whether it’s in front of 75 people at church or 75,000 people at a concert. I will always give that same performance and feel the same way about giving the message in the music.

UCN: For 2013 there is a full project in the works?
LM: Yes, absolutely, we’re actually working on that now. I’m really excited about the new material. It has a little bit more of an edge to it and I’m loving the direction it’s going. For now we will be promoting ‘Somebody’s Baby,’ that’s still a fairly new single. I just found out, just before you got here that it was #60 on Billboard and now moved to #54. Six points is huge, especially for an independent, so I’m happy that it’s going well!

UCN: Yes, or that’s it’s charting on there at all. That’s hard for an independent to achieve.
LM: Yes, it’s really difficult to get into that chart. It’s still on an up-swing so it’s comforting to know that the song is connecting with the listeners. It’s a tough ride but I’m having the time of my life. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow but the pay-off right now is to be able to meet with program directors and get a positive response. And the fans! Country music fans are the greatest! *smiles*

UCN: Yes, they’re amazing!
LM: They’re real. They’re the guy and girl next door, the person at the grocery store, they’re me. Country music fans are the real deal and that’s what I love about this community; it’s honest. It’s America’s music and I’m so thankful to be able to be a part of it.

UCN: Thank you so much for your time!
LM: It was great to meet you!

• About
• Latest Posts

Liv Carter

Liv is a career coach for creatives, and the people who work with them.
She holds several certificates from Berklee College of Music, and a certificate in Positive Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Her main influences are coffee, cats, and Alexander Hamilton.

Latest posts by Liv Carter (see all)

• Well yes, racism, but it’s more complicated - February 13, 2017
• Black River Entertainment had a great reason to party! - October 25, 2016
• Keith Urban returns to the States for US arena leg of his “ripCORD WORLD TOUR 2016” - October 10, 2016