Mat Kearney: Young Love Sails Through Michigan

Mat Kearney: Young Love Sails Through Michigan
Part One – the Concert
By Angeline D’Balentine

Mat Kearney stood wearing his famous little golf hat, a grayish jersey, dark jeans, and tennis shoes back stage after his “Young Love” tour show at the Interlochen Center for the Arts just outside Traverse City, Michigan: September 27th, 2011.  We all stood laughing. He had just told a joke about the Michigan hand.  He had asked a young fan where she was from. She had pointed to the Grand Rapids area on her hand.

“When ever I ask someone from Michigan where are you from” he held up his hand demonstrating, “they point to this and somewhere on their hand – I live here.”

The author with Mat Kearney

Indeed, that is what we Michiganders do, and we do it with pride and delight. To witness Mat Kearney demonstrating such a common cultural thing we do here in Michigan was something I will never forget in my opportunity to meet him.

It was a last minute deal. My daughter and I had just got into Traverse City a couple of days prior. I heard Mat Kearney was going to be playing near by, and I had to get on that ship. I looked up the info and reserved my seats. I made sure to get the best left over seats closest to the stage and center. I wanted to be able to meet him, and that was my goal the night of the concert.

The opening act for Kearney’s concert was a pop-rock style Midwest sound band called Leagues fronted by Thad Cockrell and with Tyler Burkum, Mat Kearney’s guitar player. As the last set from Leagues played the two seats that were empty to my right suddenly were filled with a local couple from Traverse City. A couple that owned their own sail boat and were good friends with Kearney’s manager, Gregg Latterman, to whom also owned a boat in the area. How did I know that? Because by the fourth song of Kearney’s they had given me the inside scoop as to their presence. They were in for the after concert’s hang out with the bands and managers, and I just happen to be the one they sat next to. I don’t know does anyone believe in fate?

The set Kearney played that night was so inspirational and filled with soul. With each song he and his band played we, the audience couldn’t help but get up.  My daughter and I hardly sat down throughout that whole concert. I looked around and it was great to see a hidden gem of a place like Traverse City standing up to the music and being moved by the rhythms.

Before each song Kearney shared with us the story. I remember one of the first songs, “Down”, he explained how it was a story of a man hitting hard times like so many of us are in America these days.

“It took his breath away, holding the bank page.
He got the letter their going to take the house away,
‘About to have a daughter’ he yells it in the air.
Feeling the weight of the world that just don’t care.

Another song, “Count On Me,” a more up beat song that fused pop, folk, and poetic slam with a twist of kids singing playground tunes moved the audience so much that I believe it inspired Kearney to do what he did next.

Kearney jump down from the stage and leap from row top to row top. Pausing only to sing a few more lyrics as the audience tried helping to hold him in place above the crowd. Then I lost sight of him for a second, but then found myself standing face to face with him as he had targeted this sweet, old lady that sat next to us to our left. He held her as he sang a few more lyrics to her. She smiled from ear to ear. Then he closed the moment with a kiss upon her cheek before he headed back to the stage. I leaned over and gave the woman a hug I could tell she was so moved. She then said in my ear, “It is good to be the grandma in the crowd!” She told me later she was 71. It was a fun and cute moment in the concert experience indeed.

Kearney played a few of his hit songs “Hey Mama,” which is in the chart toppers presently. And an old one that had played on Grey’s Anatomy, “Nothing Left to Lose.”

One of the songs he closed with that has become a favorite of mine is “Ships in the Night.” A song about finding one’s way through a relationship, whether that’s in love or in friendship or in your faith. Between the lyrics and the rhythm it is a song that sparks the human spirit and speaks to us all through that element.

After the show, as everyone was dispersing, my daughter and I soon found our selves back stage with that couple and all of Kearney’s people. Though just for a half an hour we hung back stage it was a great opportunity to get a brief intro to the bands and to Mat Kearney. He was so welcoming and so down to earth. After some chit chatting and business talk, I announced to Kearney it was time for me to shift gears and be the fan. He proudly embraced the shift and with laughter as he autographed my copy of “Young Love” and took our photo together. I existed the room with a slip of my business card to Latterman, and out to collect my daughter who had exited shortly before to help break down the stage. Just like her mom, out networking and getting to know the band members. Upon leaving my daughter and I spent a little more time with Burkum and Cockrell. Great people and the most easygoing, kind-hearted musicians I had met in a long time.

Mat Kearney plays next in Michigan at the St. Andrews Hall on November 13th, 2011.

Next up – Mat Kearney: Part Two – the Interview