021: Why Didn’t Matthew Perryman Jones Get the Memo?
Fours are the most complex of all the types on the Enneagram. They spend their lives feeling different and separate from others and long to be understood and appreciated for their authentic self. Fours experience themselves as people who are missing something essential at their core that they just can’t put their finger on. As Tim Burton describes it, “if you’ve ever had that feeling of loneliness, of being an outsider, it never quite leaves you.”
Fours also have a considerable emotional range. They don’t have feelings, they are their feelings and those feelings form the basis of their identity. This unique gift of being so connected to their emotions allows them to experience a truly rich interior life. It heightens their creativity and acute sensibility to aesthetics, to beauty and meaning.
In this episode, we invited singer-songwriter Matthew Perryman Jones to share his experiences growing up as an Enneagram Four. Not only does he describe the feeling of being unique but he also shares his song, “Oh Theo,” which truly captures the world view of a Four.
Originally from Pennsylvania, Matthew grew up in Georgia and cut his artistic teeth in the Atlanta music scene before heading north to Nashville. His debut release, Nowhere Else But Here, dropped in 2000, followed by three subsequent albums — Throwing Punches in the Dark (2006), Swallow the Sea (2008), and Land of the Living (2012) — three additional EPs and a handful of singles. Songs from across his catalog have been featured in dozens of film and TV placements, and tours have taken him across the U.S. and abroad to share stages with legends like Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin, as well as the Ten Out of Tenn songwriter collective of which he is a part.
Now, Matthew is embarking on what might be the ultimate test of his inner compass: making his fifth album with only himself, a guitar, some basic recording gear, and genius loci — the spirit of place. As he chases the ever-retreating horizon, Jones will stop, listen, and capture when and what the spirit of each place calls out to him.
To learn more about Matthew, visit www.mpjmusic.com.
“There’s a very acute sense of beauty and interpreting that beauty in a way. ”