Released 15 years ago today, this is the fourth album from pop/rock singer-songwriter Mat Kearney. I think it's probably his best album, and that's at least partially because he seems to have written many songs, but he picked only 10 songs that are the best, they're upbeat and show his versatility, to some extent. His previous album was great though a bit on the slow side, and this album is definitely not that. Almost all of these songs have a very heavy beat, maybe inspired by some of his hip-hop influences. It's an excellent 40 minutes of well-crafted pop songs. Lyrically, Mat Kearney is mostly writing love songs to his wife—he just got married the year before—as well as struggles to love those in his life. The first three songs, "Hey Mama", "Ships In The Night" and "Count On Me" are the best, but don't miss the rest either. "Rochester" is the closing song and it definitely slows things down, telling the story of his grandfather in a very simple, acoustic folk style and it's such a fitting ending to the album. If you want to hear me talk more about it, there's a recent episode of The Album Anniversary Podcast where Caleb and i talk about this album for over an hour.

Release Year: 2011
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