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" 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. "

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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. "

Mat Kearney

Problem

You

Sound

" 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. "

" 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 do know great books help shape who I am and how I look at life. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" My first album was hip-hop influenced, and my second was more of a singer-songwriter album. "

Mat Kearney

First

Second

" 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

Love

Life

" I never got too specialized but did like the Southern Gothic writers like William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. "

" My dad was a scratch golfer growing up. When I'm on the road, I always bring my clubs with me. "

" I'm actually named Matthew William Kearney: my middle name is named after my grandfather. "

" I am a micromanager, and I love being involved in every detail of my life, but in the big picture, you realize how little control you have. 'Air I Breathe' is about those moments of surrender where you get to something that is bigger than you, and you don't have answers for it. "

" Minneapolis has always been a very special place for me. "

Mat Kearney

Always

Been

" 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. "

" Getting married and really digging in with another human being can point out your greatest strengths and your greatest weaknesses. "

" 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. "

" You write these songs which are really dear to you about your family or friends, loved ones, and then you get this call, and they say, 'It's perfect for two vampires making out in the back of a car.' It's some random TV show, and so I say, 'Oh, yeah, perfect - that's what I meant it for.' "

" I don't know how much I'm connected to the hip-hop scene, but I definitely lend from that urgency. "

" I love Bruce Springsteen's writing, but I grew up on '90s hip hop, like Tribe Called Quest. "

Mat Kearney

Writing

" I don't think, to be a traveler, you have to reject setting roots up. "

" 'Nothing Left to Lose' was an album that I wrote in my bedroom, and you don't know who is listening or who cares. "

" 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. "

" The first record blew up and sold really well. 'City of Black & White' didn't sell as well, and that's when you wonder, 'Did I peak already?' "

" 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. "

" 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'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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" Money definitely does not equal success in recording. "