Matt Rollings has spent four decades playing keyboards on records by some of the most iconic musicians in the history of recorded music. Most of them you only need to know by their first names: Willie, Bruce, Dolly, Waylon, Reba. He has credits on more than 1,500 albums spanning rock, country, Latin, and beyond. Along the way, he has earned Grammys as a producer, played on songs with billions of streams, and built a reputation as one of Nashville’s most trusted session musicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet Rollings is quick to point out that success in the studio is about more than musical ability. Whether he\u2019s replacing Bruce Springsteen\u2019s placeholder piano parts, producing Willie Nelson, or helping students find their creative voice through Berklee Online\u2019s Piano and Keyboard Techniques for Session Musicians<\/em><\/a> course, he says he believes the real skill is learning how to read the room, serve the song, and adapt to whatever the moment requires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this Q&A, he reflects on the winding path that led him from a Phoenix honky-tonk to backing an unknown Lyle Lovett in Luxembourg, from a few semesters at Berklee to decades of Nashville sessions, and ultimately back to Berklee as an instructor, where he discovered that the lessons he\u2019d spent a lifetime learning were worth sharing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matt Rollings:<\/strong> The first song I remember hearing? It\u2019s going to be a terrible \u201970s pop. Like something like \u201cTwo Divided by Love.\u201d I remember \u201cJoy to the World.\u201d Three Dog Night was a big part of my youth. That was the first album that my brother and I bought. I think it was called Naturally<\/em> by Three Dog Night. Naturally<\/em> had that hit on it, but I know I was listening to songs before then. Jim Croce was around, so \u201cBad, Bad Leroy Brown\u201d was probably on the radio. It was sort of a Carole King Tapestry<\/em> era. \u201cI Feel the Earth Move\u201d and all those were in there. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nWhat was the first song you remember hearing? <\/strong><\/h2>\n