Quotes from Mat Kearney

When I barely got into college, the one thing I could do was write, so I became an English major.

Life's too short to stay where we are.

Don't apologize for all the tears you've cried, you've been way too strong now for all your life.

More than any other instrument, the relationship between an acoustic guitar and a microphone is super-important. The kind of mics that you use and your placement of the mics to the guitar can radically alter your sound.

My dad was a scratch golfer growing up. When I'm on the road, I always bring my clubs with me.

I read about two reviews early on when my first record came out, and it just freaked me out, good and bad, so I've never really kept up with that side of it.

As an artist, you tend to gravitate to the opposite. I know, when I finish a song or an album, I'm interested in doing something completely new. It doesn't always happen, but that's the idea. My poor fans - I don't know if they love that or hate that.

There are a lot of great recording artists, like Jack White and Jack Johnson, who stay confined inside a very small box, but I'm more like Bon Iver, who recorded an album with programmed drums, and the next record was totally organic. I get that.

Money definitely does not equal success in recording.

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

I've always been a writer. I've always done writing or spoken-word, hip-hop stuff with my friends.

I think my faith is a huge part of my music. But for me, it didn't make sense to be in any specific market. I write songs for a lot of different kinds of people.

I thought my second record was good, but it didn't have that smash hit we did on the first one that somehow found its way onto tons of formats of radio stations.

I started writing music in a season of my life where people were telling me I wasn't defined by mistakes, and God really loved me and was fighting for me, and there was a journey to be had with that. And I don't know of a more important message.

I'm painfully a realist but ruthlessly an optimist. I think maybe it's because of my faith - I've always got the hope that there is something out there to make it all worthwhile.

For my father, he didn't know what 'Grey's Anatomy' was. He didn't know who John Mayer was. But when I showed up on the 'Law & Order' TNT promo spot, he thought, 'Wow, my son has made it.'

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

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

It's silly to throw things out or label things. You know, is U2 a Christian band, or was Johnny Cash a Christian country singer? I don't know, but they're pretty open about their faith.

Paul Simon is the king!

I think you can hear all my hip hop influences in 'Just Kids.'

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

Hopefully, reading and being around great literature inspires me to write songs, but I'm not sure about that.

My first album was hip-hop influenced, and my second was more of a singer-songwriter album.