Perched on a barstool at Lola’s inside the old Dundee Theater on 50th and Dodge, pianist Matthew Mayer sits unassumingly, sipping a cup of coffee. By all accounts, he looks like any other Omaha native—until he opens his mouth. As soon as he speaks, his South Dakotan accent comes flying out, and it’s immediately clear he’s not from around here.
Born in Canistota, a desolate town with a population of less than 700, Mayer—with encouragement from his grandfather—discovered he had a gift for playing piano at 12 years old. Soon, he started taking formal lessons from his neighbor Art Cooper, who had a profound effect on the burgeoning young talent. After graduating from Canistota Public High School in 1996 alongside 12 of his classmates, his passion for the piano blossomed, and by age 20, he’d put out his first solo CD. Mayer never would have imagined he would end up in Hollywood one day or with an album on the Billboard charts, even though he was always a big dreamer.
In 2000, Mayer earned a business degree from the University of South Dakota (USD) and spent the following year in nearby Vermillion, where he taught music at St. Agnes Catholic Elementary School. With his ambition bursting at the seams, a mentor suggested he apply for an internship at Access Hollywood in Los Angeles—“the next logical step,” he joked—which he got. With barely enough money to pay first month’s rent, Mayer packed up his car and made the trek, eager for a taste of the Hollywood glitz and glam. Once there, he rose up the ranks quickly, first as a researcher, then as associate producer.
“I had this urge to push myself, like how far can I go?” he said. “I had this amazing support system at USD, but I just knew I had to do it. I knew if I didn’t do that, I would regret it for the rest of my life.”
Mayer spent two years at Access Hollywood and has fond memories of the experience, although it wasn’t exactly lucrative.
“I’d be driving my ’92 Grand Prix into the parking lot, and literally right behind me would be Jay Leno,” he recalled. “I was working 50 hours a week, and it was this combination of, ‘Okay, I’m dirt broke and I am working my tail off.’ But then at night, you’re literally backstage with a band or talking in the same room with Tom Hanks. It was insane.”
Armed with an intimate look at Hollywood and the “celebrity lifestyle,” Mayer realized a move back to the Midwest was in order.
“Hollywood can be very distracting if you’re not grounded,” he said. “I left on my own accord because I was like, ‘Wait a minute. My music isn’t advancing like I want it to because I’m pouring everything into Access Hollywood,’ but what it gave me was confidence.”
In 2003, Mayer returned to USD in pursuit of a Master of Business Administration degree. But he wasn’t satisfied and instead relocated to Omaha, where he’d previously recorded music at the now-defunct Warehouse Studios.
“Coming back from Hollywood, from a quality-of-life perspective, I knew I wanted to be in the Midwest,” he explained. “I wanted to be close enough to home. I literally got an apartment here and didn’t have a job, so I went to Von Maur and said, ‘Do you guys need a piano player?’”
Fortunately, they did, and Mayer became the department store’s resident musician between 2004 and 2007. Meanwhile, he continued recording albums. His first album, which he self-funded and recorded in Omaha, arrived in 1998. Titled “Crossing the Bridge,” it marked his first solo piano project and reinforced everything he cherished about the piano. It also illustrated just how beneficial being from a small town truly is.
“My friends saw me so excited about something, and they wanted to help, so they would buy a CD for $10. People will rally behind you if you’re passionate about something. They basically helped me pay for it.”
Mayer has continued pumping out solo albums and touring the world with his music. As of 2023, he’s released more than a dozen records. His 2018 album, “Beautiful You,” landed at No. 1 on Billboard’s New Age Albums chart, 2022’s “Piano Lullabies” has been streamed more than 60 million times on Amazon Music, and the single “When Flowers Grew Wild” has been used in more than 90,000 Instagram Reels.
“Though charting on Billboard was exciting, it never gave me a feeling of ‘success’ per se,” he said. “That said, having a Billboard-charting album can definitely help establish you more in the industry. It also gave me the needed boost to keep going on this solo journey. These milestones can really help give the psychological support for your creative muse to keep pressing on.”
Of course, the industry has drastically changed since Mayer released his debut album. With the rise of social media platforms such as Twitter (X), Instagram, and TikTok, fans have the power to make (or, in some cases, break) careers.
“When the single ‘When Flowers Grew Wild’ started to trend on Instagram, that was a different type of excitement—mainly because it started showing up on reels all over the world,” Mayer said. “It was being used in reel coverage from Queen Elizabeth’s death to chefs baking cakes. It showed me the true power of social media and the reach it can have.”
As for “Piano Lullabies,” he calls it “another lesson in the power of DSPs, playlisting, and having a great team.” He added, “I never foresaw that kind of exposure. I released that album with the label Tiger Turn, and I credit them with a lot of the success for that album. The reaction is a combination of a deep sense of excitement, quickly followed by the urge to keep moving forward and doing the simple things day in and day out. I just have to climb the next mountain.”
And he’s climbed several. In 2000, Mayer founded his own niche website, SoloPiano.com, home to more than 600 solo pianists, who upload their music for listeners and fellow pianists to discover. Artists include Grammy Award-winning pianist and one of Mayer’s inspirations, George Winston, and Croatia’s most notable solo pianist and composer, Matej Mestrovic.
He also launched his own podcast, “Going Solo with Matthew Mayer,” in 2015. One of his most recent episodes, recorded in March 2024, features former “The Price is Right” model Gwendolyn Osbourne, who is recognized as “the longest-running woman of color on a daytime game show.” Through each conversation—whether it’s with Emmy Award-winning actor and television personality Tony Potts, or Windham Hill Records founder Will Ackerman—Mayer’s love for music, people, and his craft shines through.
Mayer translates that love into his new record label, Solo Mountain, which he founded last year. Continuing the “solo” theme, Mayer hopes to use the imprint to develop other artists in the genre. When asked if he was ever concerned that going after such a small, specific market would be a challenge, he said he found the courage by simply taking “a leap of faith.”
“One-hundred percent, it was like my own version of “Field of Dreams:” build it, and you just hope they’ll come,” he explained. “Over time, that’s how I met Matej Mestrovic, a huge mentor of mine. He signed up on SoloPiano.com in 2012. We became great friends, and then he invited me to open for him. We’ve done three tours in Croatia. He could have picked anybody, but he picked me.”
As Mayer reflects on his fruitful career, he does it with a sense of bewilderment, almost as if he can’t believe it himself.
“I was this chubby kid growing up,” he said with a laugh. “It was like, just give me a Snickers bar, and I’m happy. When my grandpa introduced me to the piano, I think he was saying, ‘We got to help this kid out.’ Then when I heard George Winston’s ‘Thanksgiving Song’ on the radio one day, it gave me goosebumps. I just knew I loved it.”
Still, imposter syndrome rears its ugly head on occasion. As he explained, “It’s still a struggle, especially when I do those Croatia tours, because I compare myself to how Matej plays. The truth is, I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point in my life where I’m like, ‘I deserve this.’ I just have to remind myself other people don’t play my style either. I’m one of one.”
For more information, visit matthewmayer.com. His music can also be streamed on Spotify.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2024 issue of Omaha Magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
