A country way of life, Episode 32 (Matt Rollings, Luke Dick, Rocky Block)
Author: Jonny Brick.
Player: Matt Rollings
At the top of Matt Rollings’ website is his trademark phrase ‘time, feel and function’, which defines his work as a piano player. His biography lists the eclectic range of artists for whom he has played piano and accordion.
He is most closely associated with Lyle Lovett, both in the studio and out on the road. He produced Keith Urban’s self-titled album and Willie Nelson’s interpretations of the songbooks of George Gershwin and Frank Sinatra. Rollings has also played alongside Alison Krauss and Mark Knopfler and has also released a series of recent albums, one of which was entirely improvised.
‘My life in music is really a mosaic of sorts,’ he has said. ‘As a musician, I sit at the piano and try to coax beauty out of wood and wire; as a producer I join with singer and song to help make something bigger than both…It involves craft and intellect, but it ultimately has to have feeling.’
Songwriters: Luke Dick & Rocky Block
Both Luke Dick and Rocky Block have the kind of names that sound perfect for rock’n’roll, though both have mostly supported other rocking country acts by contributing to their catalogues.
Dick’s sonic fingerprints are all over songs by Kip Moore (The Bull), Eric Church (Kill a Word), Kacey Musgraves (Velvet Elvis), Lainey Wilson (Good Horses) and Dierks Bentley (Burning Man). He was in the room for several Miranda Lambert songs including Pink Sunglasses, Bluebird, Settlin’ Down and Highway Vagabond.
‘I really like writing songs with or for other people,’ Dick has said. ‘I liken it to character writing, or something like that. You try to understand somebody’s character and serve that, but you also want to put your own creative vision in there.’
In 2020 Dick put together a film and soundtrack album called Red Dog that drew on how he was raised by a mum who was a dancer in an Oklahoma bar. In 2024 he released his third project as an artist, Lockeland, and he also fronts the punk band Hey Steve. Behind so many backrooms figures is a frontman frustrated.
From Nashville, Rocky Block’s dad Billy played drums and promoted alt-country acts at the live show Western Beat. Block Jr. is part of the crew who write songs for Big Loud artists. In July 2024 his co-write Cowgirls gave Morgan Wallen and Ernest a number one at radio; it’s one of four tracks he wrote for Wallen’s album One Thing at a Time, alongside 180 Lifestyle, Had It and Man Made a Bar.
Block also has credits on Broadway Girls, a duet between Wallen and rapper Lil Dirk, as well as songs by Ashley Cooke, Dallas Smith, Jordan Davis and Chris Lane. He was also in the room for the Post Malone and Blake Shelton collaboration Pour Me a Drink.
All Episodes can be found here
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