This past Friday, Lipscomb students were given a rare treat.
Mat Kearney, best known for hit songs “Nothing Left to Lose”, “Undeniable” and more recently, “Ships in the Night” and “Hey Mama”, headlined the free SGA-sponsored spring concert alongside Kiernan McMullan in Alumni Auditorium.
Kearney, a resident of Nashville, offered insight into his past, his music, his faith and his love of everything Lipscomb.
A native of Eugene, Ore., Kearney’s found his musical influence from A Tribe Called Quest, Bob Dylan and Weezer. Growing up, any sort of hip-hop music caught Kearney’s attention.
In college, Kearney started to write his own music.
“I would steal my roommate’s guitar and go sit on the front porch, and I was so bad at covering other people’s music that I would just start writing my own songs.”
Everything changed when Kearney helped a friend move to Nashville. As a junior soccer player at the University of California State, Chico, Kearney agreed to help a friend drive to Tennessee.
“We drove across country in the summer in our un-air-conditioned Chevy S-10 and got to Nashville. And by the end of the summer, I was hanging out at Fido; that was it,” Kearney said. “I was like ‘I’m not going back. I’m not going home’.”
Kearney, who had just started to record music here in town, saw that Nashville was the place to be.
“I just called home and said ‘I’m moving to Nashville’.”
Kearney, a Christian, wants his faith to play a major part his music.
“I think my faith is a huge part of what I do,” Kearney said.
“Being a Christian, if you allow [your faith] to really be what it is, it seeps into all your life. I think from writing about falling in love with my wife to dumb pop songs to songs like “Rochester”, which are about my dad and his journey of basically quitting doing drugs and becoming this kind of hippie Jesus movement guy, you know, I think it’s kind of the thread that pulls all of my story together.”
Kearney wants to write music about, as he describes, “this commitment to redemption and grace and never fully letting go of the hand of hope”.
“I love writing about depravity and difficult times, but also really holding on to this idea that there’s a bigger story being told in the middle of all that,” Kearney said. “I think that’s kind of one of my main missions when I write is to try to explore the tension between what’s difficult and a beautiful, loving God in the midst of that.”
For any students looking to branch out their talents in the music world, Kearney has a word of advice.
“I would advise [students] to find the songs that only that they can write and not to imitate stuff or imitate current stuff,” Kearney said.
“I think you have to find the songs that only you can write about things that are true to your life.”
Kearney also has a little financial advice for any aspiring musicians.
“I think it’s important to stay out of debt,” Kearney said with a smile. “Honestly, it keeps you really flexible. I mean, obviously, everybody’s got student loans, I had those, but living in a life where I was sleeping on someone’s couch, and flexible, and I could go on tour for six months. It was really, super helpful early on.”
Per tradition, we asked Kearney if his music had a smell and taste.
“My music would smell like fresh cut grass sprinkled over BBQ chicken with lavender sprigs sprinkled on top,” Kearney said. “It’s very earthy yet down home yet a little sensitive.”
Taste?
“It would taste like fresh cut grass sprinkled on BBQ chicken with lavender sprigs on top.”
Kearney shows no sign of slowing down following his on-campus concert. In April, he will hit the road, beginning a tour on the West Coast.
But this Nashville resident does have a special message for the campus.
“Thank you, my neighbors here at Lipscomb. You guys are my pals. I drive by your university all the time. I wonder if baseballs are going to fly and hit my car when I drive by. And I visit your Pizza Perfect – I feel like you own it. And I’ve been played in your chapel once,” Kearney said. “I’ve been down since ’01. Just keep it real.”
Kearney is currently looking for volunteers for t-shirt sales on his upcoming tour. You can follow Mat on Twitter @matkearney, or visit his website matkearney.com.
To see photos from the concert click here. Photo Credit: Whitney Jarreld