Mat Kearney

• Genre: Adult Alternative
• Hometown: Nashville

About

While a good amount of Mat Kearney's songs at first appear cut from the same cloth as those of fellow acoustic crooner John Mayer, there's plenty to differentiate him. The hip-hop stylings of "Undeniable" and "Girl America," as well as "All I Need" -- a song detailing eyewitness accounts of Hurricane Katrina -- point to the fact that Kearney isn't just a dude singing about his hurt feelings on TV (he's had songs appear on Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill and Friday Night Lights, to name just three). Kearney relocated from his native Eugene, Ore., to Nashville, Tenn., after recording Bullet in 2004. He signed to Columbia and released Nothing Left to Lose in 2006, the title cut of which reached No. 7 on the U.S. Adult Top 40 chart. His third album, City of Black & White, came out in 2009.

- Mike McGuirk