High school graduation loomed, and Mat Kearney had no idea what he wanted to do.
“I had absolutely no career ambitions,” he said.
His main goal?
“Not getting arrested and drunk on some barstool for the rest of my life.”
Then consider Kearney a success. The Eugene native toured with John Mayer and Sheryl Crow last month and will play in Eugene on his headlining fall tour Friday. He released “Nothing Left To Lose” on a major record label last April.
Although Kearney wasn’t involved in music while attending South Eugene High School, growing up in Eugene has influenced his music.
“South Eugene High School is a very unique school in the fact that our heroes weren’t the pop culture heroes that you’d find at a normal school,” he said. “I think the culture and appreciation beyond pop
culture has really laid a foundation in me.”
In high school, Kearney considered himself a soccer player and a writer. He remembers writing at local coffee shops and writing poems for girls in middle school.
“I really had that love
for words and expression,” he said. “That really got me going.”
While attending college at Chico State, Kearney helped a friend move across the country to Nashville, Tenn. They started writing songs, and Kearney hasn’t stopped or left since.
“All the years of writing poetry – it seemed very natural for me to write songs,” the Nashville resident said. “I loved being around music.”
After working odd jobs like being a banquet server for about four years, he released “Bullet” on an independent label, and it eventually led him to a deal with Aware/
Columbia Records.
While changing strings on a guitar to prepare for a show, Kearney explained that he’s focused on touring, but he continues to write music.
“It’s always evolving and changing and expanding,” the singer-songwriter said. “Since I’ve been on the road, it seems things have a lot more to do with traveling and missing the ones you love.”
Kearney believes his voice will continue to change as a writer.
“I feel like as a songwriter, I’ve only written one album – a small body of work. There’s a lot of growing – finding my voice,” Kearney said.
With one major record out, Kearney is still discovering the make-up of his fan base.
“We’re still at that place where we’re still getting to know the people that come out to shows,” he said. “It varies a lot from city to city.”
Kearney is sometimes pegged as a Christian artist because he makes references to faith and God in “Nothing Left To Lose.” He doesn’t feel pressured to perform for a type of audience, he said, but faith plays a role in his music.
“I think my faith and the way that evolves is hopefully growing,” he said. “Whoever you are as a writer, performer or musician, your world view forms how you write. For me, my faith plays a huge part in how I view life and perceive life and deal with life.”
He looks forward to playing at the McDonald Theatre, where he saw “E.T. the
Extra-Terrestrial” – the first movie he cried at. The McDonald Theatre will provide a more intimate atmosphere, he said, compared to venues like the Verizon Music Center in Indianapolis where he played with Mayer and Crow. Kearney said he’d often open to fans who were not familiar with his work.
“I was sitting backstage talking to John [Mayer], and he described it as doing straight up recruitment. That’s very much what it is. You’re playing in front of a lot of people – 10 to 15,000 every night. It’s very different from the McDonald Theatre.”
Although Kearney enjoyed the challenge – he described it as trying to win the attention of a cute girl during high school – he looks forward to an audience more familiar with his work.
“You’re there with a common interest with the people at the show,” he said. “You’re not trying to introduce them.”
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