Mat Kearney
Getting married and really digging in with another human being can point out your greatest strengths and your greatest weaknesses.
God found me when I was at my lowest point. That was the first time in my life when I really felt like I understood who Jesus was - it was more than just knowing about Him: I felt like He met me in that time and place.
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.
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.
When I was in college, I wanted to study film. My first passion was to be a cinematographer. So maybe there's something innate in my music where it partners well with images.
I grew up in Oregon, so there was always a lot of that folksy, Bob Marley stuff. There was a mural of Bob Marley on a wall at my high school.
I can't help but do things my own way.
There are a lot of great recording artists, like Jack White and Jack Johnson, who stay confined inside a very small box, but I'm more like Bon Iver, who recorded an album with programmed drums, and the next record was totally organic. I get that.
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.
It's been awesome going indie. I don't need to be on a major label. I love not having to walk into a specific radio person's office to try to convince someone to play my songs. At the end of the day, it's more work, but I've discovered that I like to get my hands dirty.
I don't spend afternoons practicing my guitar to get better. I do read, though, to get inspiration for my lyrics.
I never got too specialized but did like the Southern Gothic writers like William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.
The criticism people could have of my music maybe is that it's somewhat schizophrenic at times. And if you don't like that, it could bother you.
You go to a Springsteen show, and half of the people are there to party and forget about their cares, and they're being drawn to this visceral experience. And then the other half, you know, has lived and died with his 'Nebraska' album and considers him one of the greatest poets.
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.
I've always been a writer. I've always done writing or spoken-word, hip-hop stuff with my friends.
When I started forming my own taste, there was a period in high school when I listened to only rap and hip-hop, like A Tribe Called Quest.
I think, in a lot of ways, hip-hop is interesting to me because it's like the modern-day folk music.
The first album was literally the first 12 songs I've ever written.
It's a job, and it's challenging. But I love music and creating. That's why I got into music.
Generally, the songs that are the scariest ones are the ones that people connect to.
I had the lyric 'Chip Don't Go' and a few words, and my wife came in and said that it sounded like a good song. I thought I'd finish writing it up and posting it to YouTube. I didn't realize it was going to take off like it did.
Minneapolis has always been a very special place for me.
There's this song called 'Brad Chester,' which is like the depths of my family. It comes from a very personal place.
Being from Oregon, it's part of who I am.
There's something incredibly vulnerable about middle school for me. We're really impressionable during that period. The cement's still wet, so to speak, and a lot of things later in life are born during that season.
Hopefully, reading and being around great literature inspires me to write songs, but I'm not sure about that.
I do know great books help shape who I am and how I look at life.
I'm really influenced by '90s hip hop. A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul were my heroes growing up.
'Young Love' is about falling in love and dealing with your past so you can move forward. I wanted it to be a clear record.
I love Michigan.
I've never shaped or crafted my music for any specific group of people. Whoever connects with it is fine with me. I don't care where they come from.
I was always into poetry and writing. So the urgency of spoken word is something that really has always appealed to me.
I don't know how much I'm connected to the hip-hop scene, but I definitely lend from that urgency.
My goal is to try to avoid a genre.
I was an English major in college, so I really liked spoken word and poetry; it was what I did before I wrote music.
I never wanted to be on an exclusively Christian label.
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.
For my father, he didn't know what 'Grey's Anatomy' was. He didn't know who John Mayer was. But when I showed up on the 'Law & Order' TNT promo spot, he thought, 'Wow, my son has made it.'
When I first started writing music, it was to express that. I was trying to find God and trying to find meaning in my life. That's what my music was about. It wasn't to entertain.
I love what I do. I love playing music.
I'm a '90s music kid.
Growing up in Eugene, Oregon, there was everything from The Notorious B.I.G. to Weezer playing in my car.
I've had moments in my career when I've made more money and had more success than at other times, but I've realized being happy has very little to do with any of that.
I would sit in my dorm room and write songs. I loved it. I was learning to sing and play guitar. I was becoming a musician. I was the beginner who somehow could write a song.
I didn't know music would end up being my job, but I loved it so much I wanted to do it every day.
New Yorkers are historically tough crowds.
I read about two reviews early on when my first record came out, and it just freaked me out, good and bad, so I've never really kept up with that side of it.
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.
I thought my second record was good, but it didn't have that smash hit we did on the first one that somehow found its way onto tons of formats of radio stations.