Well, I never made a record to be in the Christian market. So when I made my record it was to exist in all of the markets. I grew up not really listening to tons of Christian music and if I did it was in the context of all the other music I listened to. So when I made the record I definitely had plans and visions and dreams.

Mat Kearney

The stories that are too personally vulnerable to write are the ones that must be told.

Mat Kearney

healing stories writing

There's a truth to the fact that it's hard to be real. It's easy to be indulgent. It's easy to be bubble gum, but it's hard to find a real thing that really makes your soul tick. It's painful and honest. It can be more challenging than just a sad song.

Mat Kearney

real challenges song

I am not an evangelist. I am not a preacher. I am a musician. That is what I know how to do. I know how to write songs. I know how to write things that relate to my heart. I feel that I talk about God in every song, in everything I do - all of it! I really do not know how to respond. I do not relate to that.

Mat Kearney

heart writing song

Trying to find a heart that's not walking away.

Mat Kearney

walking-away heart trying

If you make people think they're thinking they'll like you, but if you make people actually think, then watch out, you're not going to be popular.

Mat Kearney

watches people thinking

It's not the circumstances that determine who you're gonna be but how you deal with these problems and pains that come your way.

Mat Kearney

pain problem way

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

real writing song

The songs that you start to write that you are a little scared of can be the ones that you have to tell.

Mat Kearney

writing littles song

I love creating. I am addicted to the drug of creation and creating things. I get a little depressed when I am struggling to find what I know is locked inside. If it's a lyric or something that is challenging me, I can be very depressed, but when it's like heaven opens up and it gives you a song, it's amazing. There's nothing else that I enjoy more probably.

Mat Kearney

creating struggle song

Just because you've written a song doesn't mean that you have pulled through. There are definitely songs where I embodied someone else's pain and that was purely to serve the listener because I knew they needed to hear something. But most of the good stuff comes from my life.

Mat Kearney

pain song mean

As my uncle always says, 'If your vibe outweighs your substance, you're destined to be a novelty.' I think that is true in all art.

Mat Kearney

uncles art thinking

I never play all new stuff, because you got to "dance with the girl that brought you" what is that saying? You got to play the songs that got you there, so I love playing the songs from my very first record.

Mat Kearney

girl play song

I think one of the things that I carry, and just my goals in life, is just encourage people and make them feel joy and celebrated and they leave feeling like maybe there was stuff talked about that was difficult, but then there was a voice of redemption and grace in the middle of that.

Mat Kearney

voice people thinking

As an artist, you just want to keep creating, keep finding a place that really inspires you that feels fresh and new and keep it exciting.

Mat Kearney

creating artist inspire

I love being vulnerable. It's scary. I feel like the best stuff that I have ever written can come from real vulnerable places.

Mat Kearney

scary real love-is

Songs really tend to connect.

Mat Kearney

song

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

Mat Kearney

digging married weakness

I enjoy changing; I think it's more fun to try something different than to just do what you did last time.

Mat Kearney

fun trying thinking

I love creating moments that feel bigger than just like an artist on stage.

Mat Kearney

creating moments artist

Life's too short to stay where we are.

Mat Kearney

lifes-too-short too-short