MusicRadar

It's four o'clock on a fall afternoon, and Mat Kearney calls from a cell phone while aboard a train en route from New York City to Boston. "I'm looking at a bunch of sailboats outside," he marvels. "You get to see so much more of the country when you travel by train instead of a bus."

Kearney admits that the logistics of touring don't always allow him the luxury of riding the rails, but when the routing permits such a mode of transportation, he jumps at it. "It's old-school, which is cool," he says. "But I really do find trains to be relaxing and peaceful. They're soothing."

"Soothing" would be a good way of describing Kearney's expressive, raspy tenor, which he uses in a variety of interesting ways - playful and woeful, brooding and carefree, vulnerable and brash - on his fourth and latest album, Young Love. He mixes up genres, too, underpinning breezy acoustic pop with infectious hip-hop rhythms that add rich colors to his vivid, anecdotal lyrics and stirring melodies.

The Nashville-based singer-songwriter and guitarist scored a king-sized hit with this approach on his 2006 release, Nothing Left To Lose. He veered into a more straight-ahead adult contemporary setting on his next album, 2009's City Of Black & White. "I wrote the songs I wrote and chose the kind of production that worked," Kearney says. "I'm still glad I made that record and wouldn't change a thing."

Young Love, with its beats-a-plenty, hook-o-rama lead-off single, Hey Mama, finds Kearney revisiting and perfecting his format-smashing formula. It's the sound of an artist in full flight, and the album is a shape-shifter, playing itself out in your head after repeated listens.

MusicRadar spoke to Mat Kearney about the beauty of blending musical styles. In addition, we talked about his influences and what guitars he holds nearest and dearest.

Was your writing or recording process different on Young Love than on previous records?

"It started with the writing, yeah. The first song I wrote for this record was Hey Mama. I didn't have a guitar with me at the time, so I made up these beats by clapping my hands and stomping my feet. Then I hooked up a mic and recorded myself dancing around the room making up this really fun, playful song. I wasn't planning on writing something, but this cool hip-hop thing just happened."

Sounds like a real street-drummer thing was going on.

"Yeah, exactly! It wasn't a traditional way to write, at least for me. It was definitely more of a high-energy, hip-hop way to go. But I had such a good time doing that. I wasn't tied to what I was playing on the guitar; it was just pure rhythm and me improvising vocals. I was able to figure out the music later – the vibe came first."

You've described Young Love as being a "return to innocence" for you. Can you expound on that?

"Yeah, sure. Well, just the title kind of sums it up, that whole falling-in-love, butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling – that's what I wanted to convey. It was happening on the record because that's what was happening in my life."

You're referring to the fact that you recently got married.

"That's right. There's that, of course. But it's also how, when you commit to someone, you're forced to dive into some areas of your past, and maybe they're times when you lost some innocence. Songs like Learn To Love Again and Rochester and some of the more gut-wrenching ones deal with the pain of the younger times of your life…trying to make sense of some the stuff we probably all went through.

"Hey Mama isn't like that at all. It's young in a carefree, casual way. That's what I really like about this record, that I was able to let myself go to both extremes. I've never had as many upbeat, fun songs as I do here. And then there's Young, Dumb And In Love and She's Got The Honey – in-your-face, visceral, guy-courting-girl songs. There's always a need for those kinds of tunes in the world. They give you hope, they make you happy."

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