Alright, alright, alright.
All the way back in 1992, an unknown Matthew McConaughey starred in Trisha Yearwood’s 1992 “Walkaway Joe” (ft. Don Henley) video.
The 23-year-old McConaughey was just starting out as an actor when he was cast for the video. The very next year, he dropped that famous line in Dazed and Confused, followed it up with a bunch of timeless rom-coms, then won an Oscars, and now, well hell… he just might be the Governor of Texas someday.
On Justin Moore’s podcast, he recalled how he got the gig when he was a film student:
“I was down there at school at the University of Texas, and I went and got me an agent… but I was looking for work in front of the camera, so I always wore a pager.
And that pager would go off and say, ‘Hey can you be in San Antonio in an hour in a half for a Dwight Yoakam video,’ or whatever… and I’d hop up and go.
I didn’t get many of them, but that day it was, ‘would you come down and audition for this Trisha Yearwood video?’ And it was basically a modeling job. I think I was wearing a t-shirt like this, walking around…
So we went and shot it there in Central Texas, it was one of my first gigs.”
And the rest is history.
McConaughey would go on to star in a handful of other music videos, even directing one for Jamey Johnson, but of course, it’s his motion pictures that put him on the map.
We’re talking about all-time classics like Dazed and Confused and Dallas Buyer’s Club, and even some great rom-coms like Failure to Launch, and How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days.
But it all started right here… enjoy:
Matthew McConaughey Sings Johnny Cash’s “The Man Comes Around”
Back in 2012, a special event took place called, We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash.
A number of greats were a part of the concert, including Ronnie Dunn, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Jamey Johnson and a ton more, but the host of the show was none other Matthew McConaughey.
And, he even got in on the action singing “The Man Comes Around.”
The title track from Johnny’s 2002 American IV: The Man Comes Around album, the Biblical end-times track is more of a spoken word type of song, so needless to say, it’s much more in Matthew’s wheelhouse compared to Johnny classic like “Folsom Prison Blues.”
And while McConaughey’s version didn’t make the recorded album, it did make some of the DVD bonus features.
The album version: