The Best Things in the World: Mat Kearney's Music

That's quite a claim, I guess. And alot of pressure to put on one artist's catalog. But Mat Kearney makes the kind of music that speaks to the existence of another language, one spoken across the world, without words of any kind. His is the music of subtle emotion and deep, inward realities that you feel without reservation but struggle to articulate. It is music like his that gives us one of the Best Things in the World.

Not every song, of course. But skip over to Kearney's website, and listen to the first song that pops up on the audio player, "Nothing Left to Lose." It's the title track of his newest album, and it is amazing. One of my favorite aspects of music is a certain haunting sadness, a lingering melancholy, that Kearney captures with soul in this particular song. For some unknown reason, this quality connects with me to the core of my essence. As Kearney sings in this song and others of his travel, his gaze to the future, and the world that surrounds him, he draws you in, like a lonely traveler who shyly but evocatively tells you his life's story. At the end of it all, you are affected, moved, and you hesitate to part ways with such an acquaintance. So it is with Kearney's music. I've been listening to it for a long time now, and it is a friend worth keeping.