Matt Baylor was born in Los Angeles, and grew up in Utah after being adopted at a very young age. Music was his first love; he played piano, violin and harmonica, and sang in a Mormon youth choir.
After moving back to L.A., Naylor continued his quest for a music career, graduating from the Dick Grove School of Jazz Music with a focus on recording.
In 1990, Naylor began visiting a friend in Palm Springs who designed custom swimming pools and water features; three years later, he moved to the Coachella Valley to work for him. The company, now Architectural Blue, has designed fountains at the Gardens on El Paseo and at the Agua Caliente Palm Springs casino.
Naylor continued his music, working with children and putting on numerous musical concerts along the way. In 2015, he started the Marquee Academy of Performing Arts in Palm Springs.
“We started nurturing ‘triple threat’ performers—singing, acting and dancing,” Naylor said. “We had lots of performances there, sometimes fundraisers, including for Well in the Desert at the time. When we mounted a production of Annie, and it was so good that The Desert Sun put us in both of their magazines.”
The academy closed during COVID-19 shutdowns, but Naylor said some of his former students still keep in touch. Some have auditioned for The Voice and American Idol, and others have formed their own bands.
A few years ago, Naylor and his writing partner, the late Jeanie Cunningham, co-wrote a musical about homelessness called Off the Street, which premiered at Revolution Stage Company. It was based on the life of a local woman named Twyla (called Lyla in the musical), who was the beloved matriarch of the local homeless community and, according to Naylor, “funnier than hell.” One day, despondent over Twyla’s lot in life, Naylor wrote a song called “Off the Street.” With Jeanie’s help, it blossomed into a full-fledged stage show, which was well-received.
“Jeanie was like my soul sister,” Naylor said. “She urged me to get back into music. Because of her, I’m writing music every day now and re-working the musical. Next year, for the first time in ages, I will be doing a concert of my own music.”
On a visit to Puerto Rico in 2013, Naylor bought a 250-acre coffee farm and began reviving it. He soon discovered that some of his ancestors ran their own coffee farms nearby.
“It turns out they are also music people. It’s in the blood. … My blood called to me to learn my ancestry,” he said. One month after Naylor purchased the farm, he took a DNA test and found his biological father, brother and sister.
Today, the coffee farm is going strong, and Naylor travels often between Palm Springs and Puerto Rico. “It’s coffee season now, and we are harvesting about 20,000 pounds,” he said.
In 2013, Arlene Rosenthal, then Well in the Desert’s board president, invited Naylor to lunch. The two ran in the same social circles but had never actually met. Rosenthal urged him to take a look at the work the Well does for local homeless folks.
“When I was very young, I remember my parents helping out people in need—including immigrants—and bringing them to the house,” Naylor said. “Compassion comes naturally. When I was in L.A., I got to know some of the homeless folks and worked with Project Angel Food, taking food to people with AIDS. I really got to know what poverty was. So when Arlene asked me (to help), it just seemed like the right thing to do. I joined the board and have been there ever since.” Rosenthal passed away in 2023, and Naylor now serves as the board president.
Founded in 1996, Well in the Desert serves 80,000 meals a year to people, both housed and without homes, dealing with food insecurity. Naylor says the level of compassion shown by the Well in the Desert’s board and their many volunteers is amazing. “They really step up to the plate,” he said. (Full disclosure: My life partner, Eric Frankson, serves on the Well in the Desert board.)
Naylor said myriad factors can lead to homelessness, including mental health issues, drug addiction, job loss and serious emotional trauma, including PTSD from combat.
“Every person on the street is an individual, and they have individual needs,” Naylor said. “Until we, as a society, find out what those needs are, were not going to solve the problem. Just giving them a house is not the answer.”
Naylor said he would love for the organization to have a building with a kitchen where Well in the Desert could prepare meals for the homeless and not have to depend on area churches. He’d also like that building to include transitional housing and services, like mental health and drug counseling.
In recent years, the relationship between Well in the Desert and the city of Palm Springs has been contentious. Naylor criticized the city for not having a real plan to fix the homeless situation.
“When they arrest homeless people, it makes it seem as though they’ve gotten them off the street,” Naylor said. “We have 550 homeless people on the street. After police arrest a large group, they then say there are only 86. Do those numbers really add up?”
Naylor said thatwhen a homeless person is arrested, they are usually taken to the county jail in Indio, where they’re held for 72 hours and then released back onto the street. Occasionally, the possessions the homeless person had with them when arrested—like a tent, blankets, clothing, etc.—are stored, but oftentimes, they are seized and thrown away.
Helping the homeless with free meals and other services can be stressful, and so can trying to convince skeptical folks in the valley that compassion and generosity are the answers. Thankfully for Naylor, his music helps keep him going.
“Music is my life,” Naylor said. “If I did not have that, who knows what would have happened? Music saved me—and still does.”
Learn more about Well in the Desert, including details on how to donate or become a volunteer, at www.wellinthedesert.com.
Bonnie Gilgallon has written theater reviews for the Independent since 2013. She hosts a digital interview show, The Desert Scene, which can be heard on www.thedesertscene.com and viewed on Mutual Broadcasting’s YouTube channel. Learn more at bonnie-g.com.
Great article about Matt Naylor and the Well in the Desert! Matt and the Well are important for Palm Springs. They truly care for those who are hungry and homeless.
Matt Naylor’s contributions to Palm Springs is tremendous. Not only does he spend countless hours making the lives of the homeless better, he’s also an incredible musician. Grateful the Revolution Stage Company was able to present the world premiere of OFF THE STREET, the moving musical he and Jeanie Cunningham created. Proud to call him friend.