Matt Stillwell

Matt Stillwell's move to Nashville was the ultimate eye-opener. "I watched friends do showcases and hoped someone would show up," he says. "I watched them being promised record or publishing deals that might or might not happen. So I made the decision that what I needed to do was to eliminate the ‘no’s, and the way to do that was to go build a following." A man with a work ethic as big as his talent, Matt did just that, and in this age of American Idol and viral videos