Soul Carving

       For a while now, I've been wanting to introduce you to some of the songs and artists that I feel play such an integral part of my life. A surprise birthday gift gave me the perfect opportunity to do this. Richard shocked me with tickets to a Mat Kearney concert! Let me tell you a little bit about why we're such big fans.         Kearney (pronounced CARN-nee) hails from Eugene, Oregon. His latest album, "Just Kids" is perhaps his most autobiographical so far. You can hear a little bit about his inspiration for it in this brief interview. Kearney is a gifted storyteller. Often the setting plays a major role in these stories and is identified in great detail. It transports the listener right into the shoes of the singer, seeing what he sees, smelling the same smells and hearing the same sounds, sharing the same feelings. Consider these lines from a track on his first album : "I can still hear the trains ou...