I was looking up and feeling down, in a circle, in the rain. Spinning upside down and around, in a circle, in the rain.

I am here with Matt, the Electrician. We are visiting your hometown. How do you feel when people from LA and everybody just descends on South by Southwest? Is it kind of like, I can't wait for them to leave?

Uh, you know, no, we appreciate it. We really do. And then we have another party when y'all leave, so it's uh.

We celebrate our leaving? Is it a better party than what it goes on during South by Southwest?

It's a quieter party. It's a lot of napping. It's mostly napping.

Do you do barbecue or are you over it at this point?

Uh, no, I like barbecue, but you can't eat that every day. Uh, so no, and, and a barbecue joint right next to our house that was great, shut down. And uh, so.

So much competition.

There's a lot. There's a lot of competition. Yeah. So.

Okay, so from an insider's point of view, who is the best? Who has the best barbecue in town? Who has the best barbecue?

Oh man. You know, that's tough because the place next to our house, Art's Rib House recently was bulldozed and uh, that was my favorite barbecue. Um, but you know, some of the places outside of town in Lockhart, uh, uh, Kreutz's and uh, and Black's, um, those are great.

So how did you get your name? I mean, you were an electrician, right?

Uh yeah, I was an electrician here in Austin for about eight years. Um,

What does journeyman electrician mean? What does that mean?

Well, there's apprentice, journeyman and master. So journeyman, you're like, you you have you have a license and you're doing it, but you're not uh, you're not a master yet.

Did you ever become a master?

No, I decided I decided instead to uh, to become a journeyman banjo-lele and guitar player.

Do you consider yourself a journeyman still?

I know, I'm not really a master, you know, it's what do they say? It's uh, jack of all trades, master of none. That's uh, that firmly describes me. Uh, I just I like to do a lot of different stuff, so I never have focused too long or hard on any one thing.

So what is this?

This is a banjo ukulele, uh, or a banjolele, or a yukabanjo.

Or a baby banjo?

Or it could be a baby banjo, yeah.

So can I get a little demonstration?

Uh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds just like a uh, ukulele, except with a banjo uh, twang, I guess.

Wow. That sounds really cool. People have just, people describe your music as being sort of happy. It kind of puts them in a relaxed mood. Is that sort of the goal?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, I I I think there's a, there's a time and a place for really intense, introspective stuff and I, I write some of that. But um, uh, there I think there are people that are better at that than I am and I I think music is about having a good time and singing.

As we are Young Hollywood, do you listen to any Top 40?

I have a 13-year-old daughter. So um,

What, who is she into?

Uh, well, she was into I can never keep track. She she was into Taylor Swift for a while, but then she likes a lot of the like the young folk singers here in Austin too, which is

Which makes dad happy.

It totally does. But you know, she uh, she turned me on to the she was surprised actually that I bought the last Justin Timberlake record. And um, but she I know she likes One Direction. Those are the the posters she has on her wall.

Who's your favorite? Does she like Harry? I don't know who they are. I'm sorry. I gotta know this as a dad.

Oh, I know. Well, but as a dad, like those things change as soon as you, as soon as I learned their names, she would go, oh dad, One Direction is so last week. And you know, then I've wasted a lot of my time. Right. Yeah.

So if you were gonna remix a One D song and play it on that bad boy or or any of them, who would you Justin Timberlake, what song would you choose? Like, like current top 40?

Um, you know, my son, who's nine, is really into Imagine Dragons. And I've heard that Radioactive song about a thousand times. I think that would be kind of fun to throw onto some old timey instruments.

So you're performing here at the Subway Square. Uh, I saw on your Twitter, you've been checking out the Flautas. Like I think everyone else should eat my share for me. That's what I think. Okay. Okay. Give me sort of a sense of the vibe of what it's like to play live sort of in your town and how sort of people come out, like a venue like this.

Um, you know, every time I play whether it's a teeny little coffee shop or someone's living room or a big stage at South by, um, I just try to have a good time and and and I just do what I know how to do.

And where's your favorite place to tour when you're not here?

Um, actually, uh, I love touring in Japan and I'm going there uh, next Tuesday.

What are the fans like there? They're very I've heard they're very polite when they watch a show. They just sort of politely clap in unison.

Yeah, I mean there tends to be there it's a reserved setting for sure. Um, there's a couple of cities where it you could be in any bar in America and they're drunk and, you know, ready to go. Uh but by and large, they are they are pretty reserved.

What is your what is sort of your warm-up ritual? Um,

Let me guess, you just go out there and play, don't you? You're so chill. I do. I don't I don't have a I don't I don't like rituals. Non-ritual man.

Thank you for chatting with us.

Yeah, thanks so much. themes I've lived you'd be behind again. Even if I stopped, the world will not. I would still be walking in a circle in the rain.