A fansite dedicated to Mat Kearney and his beloved fans

I used to listen to Mat's songs and think to myself, "That poor guy. He's been through so much."  A few of them I figured he wrote out of a feeling of what something might be like, such as in the song, All I Need.  (I always thought that song belonged on a trailer for a documentary on Hurricane Katrina.)  But I'd listen to songs like Renaissance, and I'd think I'd just heard scene-by-scene moments of Mat's life, as if he'd opened his hand written journal right before me and said, "Here...take it."  But then one night at a concert in Michigan, I heard him tell his audience a few short descriptions of what led him to write some of his songs. I realized that night that, yes, Mat Kearney writes from his heart and out of his own past, but he also writes out of ours.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that much of the pain and emotion that you hear in his music, comes from how he percieves the lives of those living around him that he encounters day to day.  Mat has a very compassionate heart and he is a very observant person.  He's not the kind of person that ignores other people's despair or difficulties, but he actually taps into it, and then writes amazing lyrics and music to breathe life into those situations, spelling out hope where there seems to only be lack of it.

That night, after the concert, a new interest was peaked within me to know what every song was about. I sought out and read countless interviews. Within some of these interviews I found stories that tell how many of these songs were birthed. Not just any stories; Mat's stories depicted in his own words.  If you're interested, I'd like to share them with you...

Undeniable is an unbelievably catchy song that found it's beginnings of inspiration from the life of a troubled young man who would often visit the recording studio that Mat was recording his music at. The young man would converse openly with Mat about his need to make real changes in his life.  He was just a teenager who went to a nearby high school that was ironically under construction.  Mat told Christianity Today that he would often drive by the school on his way to the recording studio. One day it occurred to him to turn the school's demolition into a metaphor for the uprooting and seemingly uncertainty of the young man's life. Mat said, "The roots of that song are really in seeing joy on the other side of pain - of coming to know God and the undeniable nature of who He is."

Later when asked about the song in an online interview with AT&T Blue Room, Mat had these thoughts to share. "It's really a song about the ideas of redemption and grace; the concept of beauty from ashes. They're really principles that my life has been arrested with.  It definitely comes from my faith. It's like, knowing that their are thigs beyond your control that are comitted to you in redeeming the crap that you do. So I guess it's a very different concept. Like Bono said, with Karma, everything you do that sucks comes back to you, but sometimes you do something terrible and it doesn't come back to haunt you, and that's a beautiful thing too."

Nothing Left to Lose is the story of Mat's journey from leaving school in California in order to follow a sense of purpose and fullfillment that he found in music which led him to Nashville.  He's spent seven years building and pusuing his dream, and this is a glimpse of the drive that kept him going all that time.

Mat told his Michigan audience while leading up to performing the beginning of this song, All I Need, that he wrote this song for some friends who were from New Orleans and engaged to be married soon. They had just recently visited him in Nashville, before the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Mat reported that he was heartbroken for them, because although they had thankfully survived the deadly hurricane, everything about their lives surrounding them had been destroyed, including the church that they were scheduled to be married at.

The piano-driven ballad, Won't Back Down, was actually inspired by the life of one of Mat's personal favorite artists, country legend, Johnny Cash. The song tells the story of Johnny Cash's spritual journey. The journey took place as he entered a cave one day while strung out on booze and prescription pain meds, believing that he would die. Surprisingly he awoke to a bright light (the light at the end of the tunnel), and was amazed to still be among the living. Johnny looked at the opportunity as if he'd been given a second chance at life and a renewed purpose, which he held onto for the remainder of his years.

Not much is known about the song, What's a boy to Do?, other than Mat told his live audiences at concerts as well asin an interview with AT&T Blue Room that this song is a mixture of moments from his own young life and a friend's youth. They stayed up late one night in Nashville in his apartment discussing their childhood and young adulthood and Mat felt compelled for his friend's story to be told. He said he literally wrote the song in twenty minutes or less, as if it had been given to him.

Mat said he wrote Girl America  long ago when he was working as a youth counselor. He said that it really troubled him to see all the different struggles and obstacles that these young people were going through. He refers to this song as "desperate". 

The song, Bullet,  carries lyrics that depict the ultimate love, inspired by John 15:13. Mat told Christianity Today in an interview, "I really wanted to create a modern day interpretation of the idea that 'Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,' and what that would really look like."

When Mat was recently interviewed by an Australian journalist during a week long push for his music in the land down under, he had these reflections regarding the song, Can't Break Her Fall.

"That's a song, I guess it's like there's a story unfolding and I guess it's kind of like this...I guess there's a part in people that want to save someone.  You know, you want to be the savior.  You want to come in and fix them.  And there's only so much of that you can do, I guess.  So you know, it's kind of like that song of letting go.  And it's kind of...you know, realizing that you can't save someone.  You know, and they need...there's a time you gotta let them go that way.  And sometimes that's the best thing you can do, is letting them go.  It's a song dealing with all of those things through the story."

Mat tells the story of Renaissance. "The song is about a friend that was in a car wreck and another who got dumped by his girlfriend. The lyrics touch on these moments in people's lives when they hit rock bottom and question what's going on and what they are about. In that place of total uncertainty, they start to look for something real."

Being alone in Chicago on Valentine's Day is apparently the correct mixture to create this sweet love song, or at least that is what Mat tells his live audiences.

Mat Kearney was interviewing on the A&E Breakfast with the Arts morning show on Oct. 15th 2006.

Interviewer: "So tell me the story behind your next song, 'Crashing Down'."
Mat K: "I was in a really bad hotel somewhere in Virgina and I dragged a chair out into the lobby and the guy was like: 'Whadda ya do'n?!' and I was like, 'I gotta write this song!'
and he was like, 'Oh okay okay!'  [Mat chuckles thinking back on it. He continues with] So it's just about being in the middle of something and then getting caught up in it all but wanting what you hold on to to remain."
Interviewer: "And what is that? Have you figured that all out yet, do you know?"
Mat K: " Well, I don't know in a lot of ways it's kind of vague. You know, it could be someone or a Faith or it could be not wanting to change in unhealthy ways."

Thank you, Kai, for hooking us up with this new information. You Rock!!!

In another, more recent interview with AT&T Blue Room, Mat had this to say about the song.

"It's about gaining the world, or seemingly, and being faced with the fear of losing something. It's about putting values in the right place."

But if you know where I can find the remaining stories or inspirational backgrounds, and you can lead me to a link online where I can check the source myself, I would be grateful and most willing to add such lovely information to this page.  Until then... here are a few quotes as to what Mat believes about his music.

"My artistic goal was to write something that's one hundred percent real and true to me and to this world. I tried to touch on truths that really connect with people from every avenue of life. Ultimately, when you write from a vantage point of faith, humility and openness to the world around you, people have to respond because those same truths are instilled in them. Honestly, I don't have any agenda other than being sincere, real, and passionate about these songs and the music I make." ~Mat Kearney

"Hopefully there is a depth and intimacy of songwriting that goes beyond the novelty of a funky guy with an acoustic guitar. When I set out to write, I want to write something that will rip your heart out and connect with you. Great songs connect beyond genre and style." ~ Mat Kearney

"Life is hell, but it's beautiful. I believe that I try to walk that line with my music; with how I write - how I view life." ~ Mat Kearney

"My faith informs everything I do in my music." ~ Mat Kearney