Mat Kearney Quotes
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The first album was literally the first 12 songs I've ever written.
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Growing up in Eugene, Oregon, there was everything from The Notorious B.I.G. to Weezer playing in my car.
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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.
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I've always been a writer. I've always done writing or spoken-word, hip-hop stuff with my friends.
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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.
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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.
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My goal is to try to avoid a genre.
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Hopefully, reading and being around great literature inspires me to write songs, but I'm not sure about that.
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I don't think, to be a traveler, you have to reject setting roots up.
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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.
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'City Of Black And White' was me trying to do something more mature, more adult contemporary.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I don't spend afternoons practicing my guitar to get better. I do read, though, to get inspiration for my lyrics.
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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.
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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.
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I never got too specialized but did like the Southern Gothic writers like William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.
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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.
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Getting married and really digging in with another human being can point out your greatest strengths and your greatest weaknesses.
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Somehow, my music really suits doctors making out in the syringe room.
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Golf was big in my family.