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Songs like 'Learn To Love Again' and 'Rochester' and some of the more gut-wrenching ones deal with the pain of the younger times of your life... trying to make sense of some the stuff we probably all went through.
Mat Kearney -
When my first record came out, it was in the middle of the real Muse, Keane, British thing, and that beat-driven thing wasn't really that cool at the moment.
Mat Kearney
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Hopefully, reading and being around great literature inspires me to write songs, but I'm not sure about that.
Mat Kearney -
My goal is to try to avoid a genre.
Mat Kearney -
I think the way I love talking about my faith is through my story because I think that's all we have to work with sometimes. I think it's the most moving way to share your story, too - is what you know, what you've seen and heard and tasted and felt.
Mat Kearney -
When we tour, there's always this unique quality to every town you visit... Touring, you get a sense of a collective identity for different cities. That's one of the things I love about my job.
Mat Kearney -
I think my faith is a huge part of my music. But for me, it didn't make sense to be in any specific market. I write songs for a lot of different kinds of people.
Mat Kearney -
Even on tour, where I perform songs from 'City Of Black And White,' I still do songs from 'Nothing Left To Lose.' I never turned my back on that material. On some albums, you change - that's all. The trick is to follow your heart and do what feels right.
Mat Kearney
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I don't think, to be a traveler, you have to reject setting roots up.
Mat Kearney -
'City Of Black And White' was me trying to do something more mature, more adult contemporary.
Mat Kearney -
With 'City of Black & White,' I wanted a record that would make you feel good, that would sort of take you up in its hand and sweep you along.
Mat Kearney -
I've always sought to get after something that's foundational in people. That comes through my faith, through my belief in life, through trying to hit something that's true every time. I think that's really where you move people, when you touch on something that's true, that's not based on fluff or based on a moment or a movement.
Mat Kearney -
I started writing music in a season of my life where people were telling me I wasn't defined by mistakes, and God really loved me and was fighting for me, and there was a journey to be had with that. And I don't know of a more important message.
Mat Kearney -
Owl City is exactly as you'd imagine him. It's hard to have much on him. He's like a frightened bunny. I feel like if you yelled at him, he'd just dart to a corner of the room.
Mat Kearney
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I love to play the songs that got me to where I am. I like to take a little bit from all of my records and mix it up.
Mat Kearney -
From my experience, I've been honest about who I am and what I believe and the motivation behind my music. But I've played it in arenas that are for all people. I've pretty much stuck to that model my whole career.
Mat Kearney -
I don't spend afternoons practicing my guitar to get better. I do read, though, to get inspiration for my lyrics.
Mat Kearney -
Somehow, my music really suits doctors making out in the syringe room.
Mat Kearney -
I think coming from the Northwest is something that's born in your blood. On my mom's side, I'm, like, a sixth-generation Oregonian. My family came over in the covered wagons, 'Oregon Trail'-video-game style. Maybe the pioneer mentality runs in my blood because they were all pioneers.
Mat Kearney -
It's silly to throw things out or label things. You know, is U2 a Christian band, or was Johnny Cash a Christian country singer? I don't know, but they're pretty open about their faith.
Mat Kearney
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I never got too specialized but did like the Southern Gothic writers like William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.
Mat Kearney -
The problem in this country is people gravitate toward one genre, and that's what they embrace. I don't understand that. If you hit me with Bell Biv Devoe meets country, well, I like the sound of that concept.
Mat Kearney -
Getting married and really digging in with another human being can point out your greatest strengths and your greatest weaknesses.
Mat Kearney -
There are people I love in Nashville and would not want to go a day without talking to, but I want to see the world.
Mat Kearney