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Kearney says more with less on new album

Mat Kearney's musical success was a surprise to everyone, including himself.

Published July 8, 2009

In a world full of goal-obsessed adolescents and musicians who come out of the womb clinging to the sheet music for Pachelbel's "Canon," rock musician Mat Kearney is refreshing. Musical fame was never his ultimate goal; in fact, he claims he just stumbled upon it one day.

"I was a kid who in high school got terrible grades, and I remember a teacher sitting me down with this poem I had written," Kearney said. "She looked at me and I thought she was going to get mad or something. She said, 'You wrote this, this is really good. You have a gift. You need to write.' "

Kearney heeded his teacher's advice and followed his immense passion for writing. He eventually graduated from California State University at Chico as a literature major with a pension for playing his roommate's guitar, despite no prior training on the instrument.

"In college I started realizing, 'Woah, (guitar) comes to me fairly naturally,'" Kearney said. "Song writing was just this glove that fit perfectly and I was like 'I need to do this.' "

And indeed, he did. Kearney took his immense passion for both music and writing and fused the two together to make his very first album, Bullet in 2004. The album did not meet with much success but paved the way for even greater things.

In 2007, Kearney exploded onto the music scene, touring as a part of VH1's You Oughta Know Tour. To an outsider, Mat Kearney's seemingly instant fame might seem like an effortless explosion into a dream come true. His second album, Nothing Left to Lose rocketed up the "Billboard" charts and this no-name young man from Oregon became an overnight success. His songs were suddenly everywhere, from background music in episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" to the top 100 downloads list on iTunes.

Kearney said becoming successful really wasn't as easy as it looked.

"Even before Nothing Left to Lose came out, I had been touring for over two years," Kearney said. "It seemed very gradual though there was definitely a year or two where it picked up pace. It was this progression, you spend five years to become an overnight success."

Kearney's gruff vocals expose a level of honesty and lyricism that really connected with a lot of people. Nothing Left to Lose was an album about leaving. Its sheer of amount of words demonstrating Kearney's passion for writing. Kearney describes it as a "Jack Kerouac stream of consciousness record" all about he and a buddy packing their bags and disappearing into the sunset.

More than 500 shows have passed since the release of Nothing Left to Lose and Kearney is doing things a little differently now. His new album, City of Black and White, has a classic feel and Kearney uses much less to say a whole lot more.

"I wanted it to be very visceral and refined, I wanted it to be timeless, I wanted it to be real traditional in a song writing sense," Kearney said.

Kearney is proud of the new album and is very excited about the tour on which he has embarked.

"If someone likes the new record even a little bit, I feel like the album comes alive times 10 on stage, even more than my last record," Kearney said.

Kearney will be paying a visit July 16 to The Blue Note. He urges the attendance of everyone in Columbia.

"As long as they're not arm-crossers and they're ready to jump in and have fun, it'll be a good time," Kearney said.