If providence hadn’t played its part, you might find Matt Wertz’s name on a pair of sneakers rather than on a CD cover. But as a result of Matt’s earnest desire to follow wherever his passions led him, music, rather than shoe design, was in the plans for this 24-year-old Kansas City native. Familiar and quirky, serious and witty, the introspective artist and the guy next door, Matt Wertz is as unique as the story behind his music.

Matt recalls the exact moment he left his sneaker design aspirations behind and turned to writing songs. Following the purchase of his first real guitar his freshman year in college, he played the first few chords and was instantly inspired. “When I began writing songs, I never intended for anyone to hear them,” explains Matt. “It was simply the natural outpouring of my heart.” But these songs that were so easily pouring forth would not stay hidden for long, and in a twist of divine intervention, situations to share his music began to arise.

Touring aggressively the past year-and-a half and playing a variety of venues—from college campuses, to bars, to coffeehouses, to an old carpet warehouse