Mat Kearney

Hailing from Nashville, Mat Kearney crafts arching, mellow songs that weave together pop, CCM, hip-hop, and folk. That boundary-blurring approach first surfaced on his 2004 debut, Bullet, then reached a broader audience with 2006’s Nothing Left to Lose, which climbed to number four on the Christian Albums chart. He further refined his voice across the introspective folk and melodic pop of 2009’s City of Black & White, 2011’s Young Love, and 2015’s Just Kids, each of which landed inside the Billboard 200’s Top 20. In 2021 he consolidated those threads on the roots-oriented January Flower, then issued his first self-titled album, Mat Kearney, in 2024.

Born in Eugene, Oregon, the singer-songwriter launched his music path 400 miles south at California State University, Chico, where he majored in literature while playing soccer. After his junior year he traveled to Nashville with friend and producer Robert Marvin intending only to record a handful of tracks over the summer. Offers soon arrived, prompting him to stay in Tennessee and commit fully to songwriting. His distinctive mix of hip-hop and folk caught the ear of Inpop Records, which signed him and issued Bullet in 2004.

For the follow-up, Nothing Left to Lose, released in 2006 on Aware/Columbia, Kearney eased away from rap verses. The set gained traction when three tracks appeared on Grey’s Anatomy and two others performed well as singles. Three years later he returned with City of Black & White and toured in support alongside Keane and the Helio Sequence.

July 2011 brought Young Love on Universal, timed with a run of dates supporting Owl City. Three years after that he unveiled Just Kids, again partnering with Josh Crosby and adding MDL (known for work with Justin Bieber and Maroon 5); the album drew thematic inspiration from his Eugene upbringing. He later joined Needtobreathe on the road and released the singles “Face to Face” and “Better Than I Used to Be,” both from the chart-topping 2018 album Crazytalk.

Parts of his sixth LP, January Flower, took shape during solitary weeks in Joshua Tree before he completed the project in Nashville with longtime producer Robert Marvin; it appeared in 2021. Kearney returned in 2024 with the self-titled Mat Kearney, co-produced with Micah Tawlks and Marc Scibilia. The album includes contributions from the Brook and the Bluff and highlights the singles “Headlights Home,” “Palisades,” and “Good Thing Going.”