Matthew Thomas Siewert”The Waiting Room”
Americana Highways brings you this video premiere of Matthew Thomas’ song “The Waiting Room,” from his recent release Mustangs & Thoroughbreds, Vol. 2 Mustangs & Thoroughbreds, Vol. 2 was produced and mixed by Stephen West (with one song mixed by Jonah Lane). It was mastered by Jeremy Mang (with one song mastered by Alex Doebbert).
“The Waiting Room” is Matthew Thomas Siewert on acoustic guitars, electric guitars, organ, vocals and background vocals; Stephen West on lead guitar, lap steel, and mandolin; Grace Stewart on background vocals; Ben Hodge on drums; and Jonah Lane on bass.
The video was produced, shot and edited by Erik Thein. This song was written on the heartaches and coping skills we find within ourselves in waiting rooms, especially when the news is bound to be scary. “You’ve been chasing these ghosts around the room…” is the opening line on this song of pleading and love. The video, with its rich browns of bay horses, Matt’s guitar and the comforting backdrop of a lush farmyard do justice to the line “sometimes all we can do is let time heal the wound.”
My wife and I used to live with a family that recently bought some horses. I knew that element would be essential in telling the larger story of the EP. Originally we didn’t even set out to film a full-fledged music video, we were simply capturing content. I had invited my wife to the shoot but wasn’t sure she would be able to make it. She ended up coming about halfway through the process and allowed us to capture the simple act of me singing the song to her. It was at that moment that I knew we had something special. My good friend Erik was a one man film crew and managed to capture everything we needed to take the video to the next level. His eye for the human element combined with the unexpected surprise of my wife’s presence gave this project a weight and substance it would not have had otherwise.
“The Waiting Room” is the result of a year-long journey that my wife and I never saw coming. I started writing the song after we had our first miscarriage in July of 2022. I just felt so helpless. And music has always been where I’ve turned when words don’t seem to help. The aftermath of that news served as sort of a microscope for me personally. The way I processed my emotions just wasn’t healthy. I numbed out and turned to alcohol to insulate myself from feeling the pain. Ultimately, we both grew a ton through that experience and started to feel hopeful about the future again. Fast forward to this past July and we went through a second miscarriage. It was devastating. Before we found out, I was actually going to finish the last verse of the song and wanted to write it with a resolved, positive ending where we got the news we were hoping for. But we didn’t. And a lot of people don’t. A lot of us find ourselves stuck in a waiting room with nothing to do but sit with the ones we love and be present. Waiting sucks. But if you’re doing it with love and for love, it doesn’t have to be all that bad. Sometimes, it’s in the waiting that real love finds its fullest form. For anyone who’s waiting for news or wading through pain, I genuinely believe this song is yours just as much as it’s mine. — Matthew Thomas
Find more information here on his website: https://matthewthomasmusic.com/