Matt Koziol Had 57 Songs Ready to Put on His New Album — Here's Why He Picked These 13 (Exclusive)

The country rocker tells PEOPLE the last thing he was thinking about was if a song was worthy of radio play when working on 'Last of the Old Dogs'

Matt Koziol loves the outdoors. He loves to go fly-fishing and he loves to cut his grass and he loves a day when he can just drive his truck and go take a hike.

He also loves sitting on the couch binging Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.

"That's a nice broad view of who I am," admits a laughing Koziol, 36, from his home situated just 30 minutes north of Nashville. "I think at this point in life, a lot of my time is spent just refilling the cup after being out and being so social. It's such an intense external experience to be in front of people all the time."

Indeed, Koziol has spent year out on the road in one capacity or another, sharing the stage with the likes of Maren Morris, Jon Pardi and Hailey Whitters while establishing quite a rabid fanbase himself.  But it was when he found himself off that stage that Koziol says he may have truly found himself.

"This has been the first record in a while where more people helped me pick out the songs, and I think they told a bigger story about me than I knew I was trying to tell," reflects the New Jersey native about the 13 songs that now make up his new album Last of the Old Dogs.

Granted, Koziol says he came into this project with 57 songs in his back pocket, all of which seemed worthy of a home on this somewhat reflective record.

"I completely forget that most of these were written with people just over a computer screen during a really strange time of our lives," says Koziol, referring to the burst of creativity that he and many others found during the pandemic shutdown of 2020 and 2021. "Everybody was home. Everybody was in their safe space, and everybody felt comfortable enough to be vulnerable."

Indeed, when faced with the unknown, the last thing Koziol says he was thinking about was if a song was worthy to become a single on the radio.

"It really allowed me to write things that I normally wouldn't have talked about in the first place, because you want to write something that's a little more commercial or something that might be different," says Koziol, who grew up on a mix of Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Nickel Creek. "It put this new perspective in my head that if I write something that I've gone through, I'm never going to be the first one to go through it, and I'm definitely not the last."

And while the album has its share of introspective lyrics and heart melodies on songs such as "Last of the Old Dogs," "Uphill Battle" and "Follow Me Home," it also has moments that are nothing short of iconic. Take Koziol’s cover of the Shenandoah hit "Ghost in This House," with accompanying vocals provided by none other than the legendary Vince Gill.

Related: Vince Gill Hits a New High on His Latest Album: 'I Never Expected It' (Exclusive)

"I dropped a plate and broke it in my kitchen because I was so stunned," laughs Koziol of the moment he heard Gill would be joining voices with him on the new album. "Honestly, I couldn't believe it. My brain couldn't process it."

Koziol's only regret was that they never found themselves in the same studio at the same time. "Vince did the electric guitar and his vocals at his studio, and I had done my part a couple of months prior. I remember I was in Charleston, West Virginia at a Cracker Barrel having dinner alone when I got the email with his vocal. I probably cried for 10 minutes. I couldn't believe one of my heroes was singing on the song with me."

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