Matt Seabaugh

He grew up around music. His dad had been playing in bands since high school and continued through most of his childhood, so rehearsals, instruments, PA systems, and live music were simply part of life. He absorbed the concepts, structure, and basics of music almost by osmosis—but somehow managed to do it without actually learning to play an instrument.

That childhood also shaped the way he listens to music today. There was never just one kind of music around him. He grew up on everything from classical, country, R&B, and Motown to classic rock, blues, pop, and just about anything else that sounded good. It left him with a pretty simple definition of genre: he doesn’t care much what you call it—if it’s good music, he’ll probably find something to like about it.

What he did learn early was the other side of the stage. He grew up helping with sound for his dad’s band, and by high school he was working as an audio engineer for school plays and productions. So he knew his way around a mixing board long before he knew his way around a guitar fretboard. He did make a brief appearance in 8th-grade band, but it wasn’t until college that he really started playing piano and guitar.

Guitar came for the same noble and artistically pure reason it does for countless college guys: he had discovered that knowing three chords was apparently more impressive to girls than anything else he had to offer. Whether that theory actually worked is debatable, but fortunately the guitar stuck. He started playing piano in college as well, and somewhere along the way music became about a lot more than his original motivation.

College also put him in the right place at the right time for the early days of the Texas Music and Red Dirt scene. He knew many of the musicians who were part of it and spent time hanging out with them at the I-35 House. He got to see more than just the shows—he saw the people, friendships, songwriting, work, and life behind the scenes as that community and its music were taking shape.

Watching it happen up close made an impression on him. He wanted to do that too—not necessarily to chase fame, but to experience what he saw them doing: making music, playing with friends, and being part of something built around songs and a shared love of playing.

Since then, he has played with the Samuel Davidson Project, Colorado River Boys, and Pocket Full of Lighters, getting the chance to make music with some great people across a variety of styles.

Life, however, took him in another direction professionally. Most of his adult life has been spent building a career in technology rather than pursuing music. Music never really went away, though.

These days, he plays for the simplest reason: he loves it. He’s not chasing a record deal, trying to become famous, or trying to fit himself into a particular musical box. He enjoys learning songs, experimenting with different styles, making music with other musicians, and occasionally justifying all the guitars he’s accumulated along the way.

After all these years, his approach to music is pretty much the same one he learned growing up: genre matters a lot less than whether the music moves you.