We recently sat down with Matthew Ferranti, to discuss his debut single “Rollercoaster,” touring with and how he met Brett Young, making the move to Nashville, and some of his biggest influences as an artist. Read the full interview below.
Hey Matt, Thanks for sitting down with us today to discuss your music career, your debut single “Rollercoaster,” and more. How has life been treating you?
Life’s been great! The Brett Young crew had a crazy busy 1st quarter this year and it’s not letting up, which is amazing. The shows this year have been incredible and festival season is almost here. It doesn’t get much better!
Let’s start off by discussing that you are actually a guitar player for Brett Young currently, how did you and Brett link up and how did the opportunity arise to become apart of his band?
So about 4 years ago Brett and I were playing a show together as separate artists. I was playing with my full band and he was playing in a round. After the show was over he came to me saying he needed a keys player to run our in ears for an upcoming show in Atlanta. I agreed and the rest is history.
When moving to Nashville in 2013, did you ever think that you would be able to secure a piece of your dreams as quick as you did with playing guitar for Brett and now releasing your debut single “Rollercoaster”?
No, To be honest. I realized very quickly that I had a ton of growing up to do before I could go at the music industry the right way. I bar backed on Broadway and sang a ton of Karaoke the first year and a half that I lived in Nashville. Haha. For real. At the time I’d met Brett Young, I was playing for a bunch of different people at the same time. (Filmore, Chris Bandi, Jay Allen). The more I got new music from Brett the more it became clear that he was going to be the first one to get a shot. And almost 24 months later he’s got 3 platinum singles, almost a platinum record and his next single is 28 on the charts. It’s really crazy to think about. We’ve been blessed for sure.
Could you tell us what inspired you to become a songwriter, guitar player, and singer?
I grew up playing in church. I’ve been in a bunch of bands and I just decided at an early age that I wanted to make it a career versus it being a hobby.
What made you decide to make that move to Nashville in 2013, from your hometown of Bay City, Michigan?
The last band I was in was with my good friend Lauren Duski and a bunch of my old bandmates. We ended up opening for Thompson Square and Gloriana and after the show, Mike and Tom came up to us and said we were great. But, if we wanted to be serious about it we had to get out of Detroit and head to Nashville, 6 months later I moved.
Could you tell us more about your debut single “Rollercoaster” and how the song came to be?
I had been writing songs for years but was very new to the co-writing style of Nashville. I just decided to emerge myself in that to keep getting better and better. Through Lauren Duski, I met my buddy Dan Henig. He ended up introducing me to a lot of pop writers in Nashville and got me a write with Sebastian Garcia. We actually wrote “Rollercoaster” the first time we ever wrote like 3 years ago.
What inspired the song “Rollercoaster” and is this a song you wrote specifically to be released as your debut single, or was just the best one in your opinion from a collection of songs you wrote for your Ferranti project?
Well, I feel like we ended up wanting to write about the excitement of a new relationship. Not entirely a romantic love song but just something fun everyone could relate to. With planning out the whole year, we thought starting out with a tempo groovy summer song was the right move.
When can fans expect to hear more music from you and maybe even a debut album or EP?
The plan is to release singles every 3 months or so for the next 15 months. Then reassess to explore an album or to start a new EP.
Who are some of your biggest influences in music, can be from any genre?
Justin Timberlake, John Mayer, Brian McKnight, Harry Connick Jr., Michael Jackson. To name a few.
What is on your bucket list as an artist, both with your music career as a singer/songwriter and as Brett’s guitarist?
Well… As an artist… all I want is just to be heard and to get my chance. Brett has been a great model to learn from. To see the whole process unfold for him has just been incredible. It’s honestly given me confidence in myself to work even harder to achieve the goal. As a songwriter, I just wanna keep writing better and better songs so that one day someone else cuts one of mine. And as far as playing for Brett, man, we’ve been blessed. We’ve played Madison Square Garden, Jimmy Kimmel, The Today Show, Good Morning America, and the list goes on. I’m just thankful to be along for the ride.
You made your Ferranti debut to Whiskey Jam on April 2nd, 2018. What was that experience like for you and what was the fans overall reception to the debut single. If you played it there as it came out just a few days later on April 6th?
Well, I’ve been playing solo shows for a long time. I try to play as often as I can when I’m not playing with Brett. Whiskey Jam was for the sure the highlight of release week.(Outside of the release) It was slammed that night with a ton of my friends and I thought my band killed it, It was a great night.
Feel free to blame @iamferranti for transforming this Monday into a weekend night. Brother, that was BIG. pic.twitter.com/8EkBFHI96U
— Whiskey Jam® (@WhiskeyJam) April 3, 2018
How do you manage to separate your multiple “jobs” and make time to do all of them? Including singing, songwriting, guitarist in Brett Young’s band, and now taking on your own musical journey as a singer?
That’s honestly the hardest part, I put everything I have into making sure everything stays balanced. To be the best Brett Young employee that I can be, to work hard on my own stuff and execute at a professional level, and to have a healthy home with my fiancé. That keeps me center and able to balance it all.
If you could collab with any three artists in any genre of music, what artists would you pick and what would be the name of the songs that you put out with each artist?
Brian McKnight – Back At One II
Taylor Swift – Anything I Touch (Turns to Gold)
NSYNC – God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on Kate Beckinsale
Have you ever sat down with Brett Young while out on the road, to write a song together, either a song for Brett to release, or a future collaboration together, or a song for you to release yourself?
Yea, we’ve written a couple times and I’m sure we’ll get some more in this summer!
What can fans expect from Ferranti in the rest of 2018? Where can fans find you online?
My next release Is in July. We’re still deciding between a couple songs right now. There may even be a rollercoaster pop remix by an up and coming DJ. My website iamferranti.com is live now!
