A Music Review Submitted to Paste Magazine

April 18th, 2006 at 09:18am Sara G. 12

Paste Magazine is a wonderful bi-monthly publication for music people. I submitted a review this morning. We'll see if it gets used. Some reviews they post on their website, some in the magazine, some they regret spending the time reading.

Mat Kearney: It’s pronounced CAR-knee.

He is not a member of a traveling carnival, but he is on the road…touring in support of his second full length album. “Nothing Left to Lose.”

Mat Kearney’s music is a combination of textured acoustic tunes with solid vocals (a la John Mayer) and then, at times, hip-hop sensibilities (a la Jason Mraz). At first I was turned off by the white-boy rapping thing from this singer-songwriter, but I have warmed up to it. He is not doing it because it’s so common and easy to pull off. He is sincere and the melodies are good. Lyrically, it is not U2 caliber poetry, but not simplistic either (according to his own website’s journal he is reading “A Conversation with Bono, and looking at The Brothers Karamazov”).

My first and only live performance from Mat Kearney, at this point, was when he opened for The Fray in Aspen, Colorado. On stage alone with no band behind you can be a lonely place. All around are the resting instruments of the band that people actually came to see. The crowd did the usual tentative, gradual approach to the stage, but he eventually won everyone over. Towards the end of his set there was a couple dancing near the front and he worked in some improvised lyrics about them to much applause.

During an in-person interview he came off ever so-slightly unsure, which was attractive. Not insecure or unconfident. He is still growing and getting used to the music industry. He was on his way across the country when a stop in Nashville found him laying down tracks and garnering enough attention for a record deal with an independent label.

As he puts it “Honestly I wanted to write movies. So, or, I wanted to write. Which stills seems like I do that. Write small movies with no pictures, but that you play and sing. Yeah, I didn’t know. I wanted to teach. I wanted to write. And so, I picked up a guitar a people are like ‘you can kinda sing.’ And so, I didn’t really get into music until the end of college. So I didn’t grow up, never had any formal training. Never played the piano or guitar. And so I’ve self-taught most of my stuff.”

He comes off a little uncertain at times, but generally comfortable playing his music and in the role of an up and comer, possibly on the fast track.

Sara Guttman
Aspen, CO

For fans of: John Mayer, Dave Matthews, Graham Colton, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, Coldplay

Album: Nothing Left to Lose, out Spring 2006 from Aware/Columbia Records.

This album includes six reworked tracks from the 2004 Inpop release, Bullet.

REVIEW COULD END HERE OR COULD CONTINUE…

His sound is often catchy, but not because it should be and that is what sells. Rather it seems that is what has come from within him. He wants to sing that way. It’s not a Pop music crutch. He feels it. He enjoys it. He is earnest. That’s infectious. Oh, and he is talented. There are earnest musicians with cd’s best nuked in the microwave for the entertainment of watching the sparks.

His music is pleasant, possibly in that David Gray way that eventually everyone has an obligatory copy lying around. I was babysitting all the time when White Ladder came out. Every Starbucks drinking, Bed, Bath, and Beyond shopping, calling Target “tar-shay” pronouncing middle class person in Colorado had that album in their house. What got me about it was that it’s a great album. David deserves the success. I hope it is erroneous to judge those people that they didn’t care about the disc. To them it is nice background music, cool, and hip. Which is all true, but it seems like a disservice. But, arguably a casual under-appreciation is better than no appreciation. Mat Kearney’s music could gravitate to that, or not. He will have dedicated fans regardless. Fans for whom listening to the music makes them feel like themselves. The point is that his music is that likable.

Interview recorded January 25^th, 2006 in Aspen, CO at KSPN-FM by Sara Guttman.

Entry Filed under: Music, Women