Matt Cooper has his own theory about why songs need to exist. They’re not for the songwriter, he says, but for the listener who might be healed by its message.

“Songs are a way for people to not feel alone,” Cooper says. “Music has a way of healing things, and that is why I write songs and release them. Songs don’t belong on a shelf. They need to be out in the world.”

Cooper, a Jacksonville, Florida, native has been writing songs since his freshman year of college at University of Central Florida, where he played baseball before being wooed by the creative arts. He acted in plays and made his debut on the live stage, but his calling was setting his feelings to music. He took a job selling cars, and in six months raised enough money to go to Nashville and record: “I became a damn good car salesman,” he laughs.

Now signed to Quartz Hill Records, Cooper is poised to release a new batch of songs that will help listeners navigate life’s peaks and valleys. Or, as the title of his new single says, life’s “Highs and Lows.”

Cooper, like many of us, has firsthand experience. While he was scoring a breakout streaming hit with his cinematic song “Ain’t Met Us Yet,” Cooper was also coping with his mother’s battle with cancer. He and his father, and his two younger brothers, were caregivers during the final years of his mom’s life. When she died in 2023, Cooper was lost, questioning both his future and his faith in God. He found solace in relationships and turned it into “Highs and Lows.”

“That song is an entirely true story. I was going to a group therapy class after Mom had passed, and my first time in the room, this guy stood up and said, ‘I get high all the time when I feel low, and I've done every drug from A to Z, but the Lord's been good to me,’” Cooper says. “I was stunned, and I asked him about his story after the meeting. When I came home that night, I wrote ‘Highs and Lows’ in an hour.”

An inspiring slice of folk country, “Highs and Lows” bristles with the same acoustic energy of artists like Mumford & Sons, Noah Kahan, and Ed Sheeran, all influences on Cooper. He also cites the storytelling of Morgan Wallen, the harmonies of Dan + Shay, and the similarly folky sounds of new country artist Max McNown.

Cooper writes most of his songs by himself on acoustic guitar — he also plays piano, a skill he learned from his mom — and produces his music. “That’s my favorite part of the entire creative process: making the song feel like something and then adding lyrics to make it feel even more than something.”

Cooper did that on “Ain’t Met Us Yet,” a song built on allusions to romantic movies that created a distinct sense of nostalgia. He does likewise in the new song “Real Fast Car,” a thumping throwback to teenage dreams and all those early firsts. “That first kiss or first dance, or even the first mistake that you make,” Cooper says. “Those are important moments.”

In “Home,” a breathy acoustic ballad that builds to a rousing climax, he again turns to the cinematic, but as a way to share a message.

“I wanted that song to feel like a movie. I love creating scenes with my lyrics,” he says. “But I also love hiding a message in my songs. In ‘Home,’ I did that in the bridge, where I reflected on all the things I’d been chasing and realizing they didn’t make me happy.”

“Bars, cars and caviar/shiny lights and old cigars/I don't want to gain the world/If it costs me to lose my heart,” Cooper sings in the bridge, casting aside life’s empty pleasures. He explores the idea further in another new song called “Vices.”

“I’m passionate about faith and about sharing a moral message,” he says. “The truth is life is hard. What do you turn to? I think people want something more.”

Cooper is here to help fans fill that void — one song at a time.

“We all have to have faith and believe that we’re right where we need to be,” he says. “I didn't think that at 24 I was going to lose the best person in my life. I didn't think that I was going to be here in Nashville. But for some reason I'm here, and for some reason I did lose my mom. There’s something bigger out there that helps us get through life. I'm going to try to be an example, and if even just one person hears that message in my music, it’s all been worth it.”