Quotes from Mat Kearney

I don't think, to be a traveler, you have to reject setting roots up.

When I started forming my own taste, there was a period in high school when I listened to only rap and hip-hop, like A Tribe Called Quest.

I'm really influenced by '90s hip hop. A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul were my heroes growing up.

I love Bruce Springsteen's writing, but I grew up on '90s hip hop, like Tribe Called Quest.

I never wanted to be on an exclusively Christian label.

It's been awesome going indie. I don't need to be on a major label. I love not having to walk into a specific radio person's office to try to convince someone to play my songs. At the end of the day, it's more work, but I've discovered that I like to get my hands dirty.

I had the lyric 'Chip Don't Go' and a few words, and my wife came in and said that it sounded like a good song. I thought I'd finish writing it up and posting it to YouTube. I didn't realize it was going to take off like it did.

Even on tour, where I perform songs from 'City Of Black And White,' I still do songs from 'Nothing Left To Lose.' I never turned my back on that material. On some albums, you change - that's all. The trick is to follow your heart and do what feels right.

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.

I played soccer. I was really known as an athlete. It was a shock to people that I was doing music. They thought it was really odd.

The first record blew up and sold really well. 'City of Black & White' didn't sell as well, and that's when you wonder, 'Did I peak already?'

The problem in this country is people gravitate toward one genre, and that's what they embrace. I don't understand that. If you hit me with Bell Biv Devoe meets country, well, I like the sound of that concept.

My songs have a layer of melancholy.

I love Michigan.

The criticism people could have of my music maybe is that it's somewhat schizophrenic at times. And if you don't like that, it could bother you.

The first year I moved to Nashville, I started playing these songwriter nights with people like Nickel Creek, Duncan Sheik, and even Ryan Adams... That was the first place I really started playing music, and I had to really step up my game. Really quick. Or get kicked off the stage.

All of my acoustic playing came from my songwriting. All of the chords I've learned and all of the voicings I play them in are a direct result of composing.

I've always sought to get after something that's foundational in people. That comes through my faith, through my belief in life, through trying to hit something that's true every time. I think that's really where you move people, when you touch on something that's true, that's not based on fluff or based on a moment or a movement.

I love to play the songs that got me to where I am. I like to take a little bit from all of my records and mix it up.

I think, in a lot of ways, hip-hop is interesting to me because it's like the modern-day folk music.

Minneapolis has always been a very special place for me.

I was an English major in college, so I really liked spoken word and poetry; it was what I did before I wrote music.

'Young Love' is about falling in love and dealing with your past so you can move forward. I wanted it to be a clear record.

When my first record came out, it was in the middle of the real Muse, Keane, British thing, and that beat-driven thing wasn't really that cool at the moment.