Home   /   What's New  /  Reviews  /   VIDEO REVIEW: “Whiskey Away” From Matt Bailie
VIDEO REVIEW: “Whiskey Away” From Matt Bailie

Photo courtesy of CDA Nashville

The road has not been smooth for Florida native, Matt Bailie. Filled with tragedy, heartbreak and love, his own story is as emotional as any country song. But if his new video for single ‘Whiskey Away’ is anything to go by, then things are on the up. Matt Bailie is back in town.

For some, Matt Bailie will be a name in the dark depths of your memory from years ago. It is in fact seven years since Bailie’s last album, ‘I Wanna Live Like That’. The smell of success was sadly short-lived. As recording for Bailie’s second album was wrapping up, his record label filed for bankruptcy and he was released from his contract, just as his video ‘Dress Down’ was number one on CMT.com.

Since then, Bailie has been busy but very far from Nashville honky tonks. He returned to Florida where he started two home remodeling companies and became a certified personal trainer. He didn’t sing or pick up a guitar for about five years until he met his wife, Taylor, and joined a church where he once again found his voice playing and singing for their worship band. He became a Dad in 2020, and made the move back to Nashville, where he signed a songwriting deal and began working with friend and producer, Michael Wilkes, on his forthcoming EP.

It certainly hasn’t been a straightforward journey, but when Bailie finally picked up a guitar and began writing and singing again, a brand-new authentic voice came out. “I don’t know where it came from,” he says. “This is the most real I’ve ever been in my music. I can only thank God. This is going to be the most exciting chapter yet.”

Resilience has been in the fabric of Bailie’s story from the very beginning of his life. Two weeks before Bailie’s first birthday, his father David, a musician himself, died when a plane he was piloting crashed. His mother and grandmother raised him on their own. But by the time he was a young boy he had already decided what he wanted to do. “I watched ‘Garth Brooks Live’ on HBO and got to hang out backstage at 38 Special and Lynyrd Skynyrd concerts,” he explains. I fell in love with the energy and excitement that came with all-things music.” It’s the friendship with Johnny and Donnie Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special, which can be thanked for the raw, rocky sound in Bailie’s voice.

The 17th September was the start of a new chapter for Bailie, when his single ‘Whiskey Away’ was released. The video, directed by Johnny Dwinell, couldn’t be more country. Whiskey, bars and guitars all set off Bailie’s gritty rock-influenced vocal. It tells the age-old story of a guy in a bar, needing to pluck up the courage to approach a girl, and needing just that one drink to give him the push. Heard the story before? Probably, but this is crazy catchy and Bailie sells it. Rocking in front of the ‘take your place on Printer’s Alley’ sign, this is a statement from him that he’s back.

After such a long journey, you feel like he’s found his place.

Video courtesy of Matt Bailie and YouTube

For more news, interviews, reviews and features that always bring country closer, please visit thinkcountrymusic.com

*Featured photo courtesy of CDA Nashville

Tags

Related Article