Concert Review: Mat Kearney with Erin McCarley

Hundreds of concertgoers waited patiently at Amos’ Southend in Charlotte on a Sunday night this summer. They had come to see singer-songwriter Mat Kearney perform, but almost an hour after it was advertised to start, the show had not yet begun. Still, they stood and watched for the stage to come to life, because they knew it would be worth the wait.

Indie pop artist Erin McCarley appeared first. When she walked onstage with an acoustic guitar, her small frame dressed in earth tones, she was an unassuming presence. She seemed to transform instantly when she began singing in a voice at once soft and powerful. She was accompanied only by a keyboardist, who doubled as a beatboxer when she performed her rendition of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner.” The rest of her set came from her album, Love, Save The Empty, whose title track has appeared in commercials for the TV show Hawthorne. McCarley was a pleasant surprise that night, and while her style may not fit everyone’s tastes, she delivered it well.

Kearney took the stage with “All I Have,” an upbeat yet vulnerable song that set the tone for the rest of the night. Though much of Kearney’s music is laid-back, his performance had a certain energy as he conveyed the emotion in each of his songs. Sometimes, he even bounced across the stage as if his guitar was leading him in a joyful dance, like during “Fire and Rain.” Other times, he reached out quietly to the crowd, singing to them rather than for them. A few times, they sang lines back to him, including “I’m gonna be alright/Gonna be alright” from “In The Middle.”

The set list was evenly split between songs from his two most recent albums. Nothing Left To Lose features several tracks that mesh pop hooks and poetic spoken verses, a style that was dropped from his new release, City of Black and White. Unfortunately, the spoken word sections of his songs were sometimes hard to understand in this venue. Tour guitarist Tyler Burkum, formerly of Audio Adrenaline, provided smooth backing vocals and harmonies throughout the concert. He played lap steel during a couple of the songs as well.

During Kearney’s newest single, “Closer to Love,” rhythmic drumstick clicks punctuated words of encouragement and hope in the midst of tragedy. In “Girl America,” he urged a hurting nation to realize where her hope lies – “His palms and sides were pierced with spears/He hung in love just to draw you near.” He broke into the chorus of Adele’s hit “Chasing Pavements” as the song neared its end. A freestyle rap about Charlotte was also added to the end of “Undeniable,” to the crowd’s delight.

Grey’s Anatomy fans in the audience also were happy to hear two tunes, “All I Need” and “Breathe In, Breathe Out,” that were played on the hit TV show. Kearney closed the night with his hit “Nothing Left To Lose,” a song he wrote about moving to Nashville. Everyone joined in for the chorus – “Come on and we’ll sing/Like we were free/Push the pedal down/Watch the world around fly by us.”

At one point, Kearney laughed and said that Charlotte had given him a scare when no one seemed to be buying tickets to the show. “I thought I was going to be playing to an empty room,” he said, “but here you are!” The fans showed up, and so did Kearney, giving a sincere performance that seemed to connect with the whole crowd.

Photos: Karissa Minn

• www.myspace.com/matkearney
• www.myspace.com/erinmccarley

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