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Country music, with a few shots of Mellencamp and Southern rock, was Conor Matthews main inspiration as he headed to Music City. In classic Nashville fashion, he built his own chain of connections: While working at Nordstrom’s, he sold a shirt to a music industry executive, who later stumbled upon a performance by Matthews. Impressed, the exec introduced the young newcomer to Keith Urban, who in turn arranged a meeting with Warner Chappell Music. A publishing deal followed, after which Matthews was writing with Sam Hunt, Ash Bowers, Rhett Akins and other Music Row mainstays. His career as a behind-the-scenes hitmaker seemed on track. Then one day Matthews took a long-distance drive with a friend who lacked his endurance for nonstop country music. “After a few hours she said, ‘If I have to listen to one more country song, I’m gonna kill myself. Let me play one song that I like.’ And she played ‘What Goes Around Comes Around’ by Justin Timberlake. I was like, ‘What is this? Play another one!’ She played ‘Cry Me A River.’ Right then and there, those songs changed my life and what I wanted to do in music.” Matthews deep-dove into Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Usher and other pop/R&B innovators. Warner-Chappell granted him leave to explore a new realm as a writer. He took lessons from vocal coach Brett Manning and practiced five hours a day until he felt a connection to the style. With this unique take, Conor Matthews has grown his vision and gone on to release many singles in this vein. Stripped features stripped down acoustics versions of several of these songs.