Copyright postandcourier
Matt Doda stays busy. A full-time musician since 2008, Doda has clocked more than 1,000 solo gigs on the Grand Strand and beyond. Add that to countless shows over the years with popular local band Julio and the Saltines, and it's easy to see he is in an enviable position. Doda grew up in central New Jersey and moved to Myrtle Beach in 2002 to attend Coastal Carolina University’s PGA Golf Management program. "I was interested in the business of golf, and I was going through [the program], but I met a few friends who were playing music," he said. "I had always been a musician growing up. My dad taught me how to play guitar. I realized that I loved music so much and wanted to make a career out of it.” He switched his major to music and started playing in a band with his new friends. While he was still in the golf program, the first musician Doda met was Julio Navarro. Eventually, the pair cofounded Julio and the Saltines. “We were out somewhere in downtown Myrtle Beach, a place where college kids would normally hang out. He was sitting there with a guitar and a few kids were around him," he said. "He had another guitar that nobody was playing. I was like, 'let me get that guitar and I can start playing with you,' and we just started playing and literally have not stopped after 23 years." Around 2013, the country was still reeling from the effects of the Great Recession and Doda needed to figure out a way to make money. "I was playing with Julio with the band, but we weren’t playing very much," Doda said. "I was also teaching music full time, but I didn’t have enough students." The solution was apparent. Doda bought himself a PA system and set about learning a bunch of songs to play solo. "There was becoming a decent demand out of the Great Recession for solo music because bands were too expensive still for these bars and clubs,” he said. Over the years, Doda’s niche widened. "I've just been growing and growing – getting my song list more varied, buying new equipment and promoting myself a little more. A lot of it has been word of mouth too. It's been pretty organic. I just kind of needed more on my plate. Music is the only thing I know how to do, so I figured why not dive in and give it a shot," he said.
