Early Life
For Matt Kennon, living a typical 9-5 had not been his life for over 10 years! He’s been singing songs that are sometimes hard to talk about. He grew up in Conyers, Georgia, which is part of the Atlanta Metropolitan area. He was adopted by two parents who had lost three out of their four children in a house fire.
When the “Love Is Stronger” singer was 16, he attended a guitar workshop with Christian artist, Rich Mullins, where they asked him to back the band on drums. He played in front of 4,000 people that night. He said that he “…was blown away at being on stage, and at that moment [he] knew performing was something [he] wanted to do.”
Life In Nashville
He moved to Nashville and was trying to figure out the country music scene after he made a homemade CD and it sold well in Atlanta. There, he met Travis Tritt’s former manager, Gary Falcon. Falcon introduced Kennon to producer Kyle Lehning and they started working together. They were writing songs together and one that he wrote, “Turn it Around”, was picked up by country superstar Randy Travis. That lead to a publishing deal for Kennon and, eventually, he signed a record deal with BamaJam Records.
His debut single, “The Call”, was released in the fall of 2009. The song is about the power of a well-timed phone call. It went on to reach about 18.6 million views on YouTube. Matt went on to say, “I think sometimes to write great material you have to live, and I had to live a little bit, and now I’m able to write about it and sing about it with conviction. I think that’s important, and it makes it believable and makes it real. I just try to be real with my fans, and because they’ve been loyal to me and hang in there with me, now we owe it to them to return with some new music and hopefully we can put it out on a large scale. I’m really excited for the future and can’t wait to share this with my fans.”
Albums, and Meanings Behind Songs
His self-titled debut album was released in May 2010. There were two additional singles on this album, and it peaked at 19 on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums and 116 on U.S. Billboard 200. It also was #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers list, too.
A year later, he released his sophomore album independently that was titled, 77. It included the song, “You Had Pick On Me”. Some of the lyrics include, “He hid behind his lunchbox/ Everyday at that bus stop/ Where some big ole boys got their kicks/ Kickin’ him ’round/ He was scared as hell of that recess bell/ That playground was more like a battlefield/ And he knew he’d get himself killed/ If he didn’t back down.”
In 2012, he released his third album, again independently. Some of the songs include “Beautiful Cry,” “We Don’t Talk About the War,” and “Nobody To Miss.” That song is about people of his past who are no longer here on Earth. He goes on to talk about a buddy who drank alcohol and drove on their graduation night. He also talks about missing his grandparents and little sister.
After making two more albums, he has released new music this past year! On May 31,2019, he released “Love Is Stronger” to radio. On June 20th of the same year, he released the official music video. The music video was produced by Casting Life Films. The lyric video that was released was seen 210,000 times in its first 45 days of being released. It was written by Mike Mobley and produced by Paul Worley, and has received over 19 million impressions on Music Choice Today’s Country. Matt told Broadway World, “Love Is Stronger” is special to me because love is stronger than anything you are going through and it makes me feel really good to be able to share this message with everyone who needs to hear it.”
This past November, Matt released a new song, “Damn Small Town.”He said, about this song, “This song is about being broken up with in the town you live in. You can’t help but run into her everywhere and there’s no getting over her except outside that ‘Damn Small Town’. This is a story that we’ve all been through at some point.”
A thread that runs through the new music is definitely love and its awe-inducing power to lift us up, stir our souls, or crush us in its wake when it goes. It’s a subject Kennon is intimately familiar with, and the material is well-suited for the hard-working artist who is finally coming into his own creatively and hitting his stride. His songs touch on universal themes like the inspiring power of love and the devastation its loss can cause, as in the heart-wrenchingly real ‘Daddy Don’t Go,’ a ballad penned through the eyes of a child dealing with the pain of a divorce.” It was written by Mark Collie.
Concerts and Anti-Bully Campaign
Over the course of his career, he has shared the stage with plenty of high profiled artists. Some of those acts include Kenny Chesney, Lee Brice, Blake Shelton, Train, and Darius Rucker. He does 50-60 shows a year where 80% of it is acoustic singer/songwriter shows, and has sold collectively around 300,000 singles and 50,000 albums.
He performed in 83 schools over nine states on an anti-bully campaign over the course of two years. During that time, he worked with several sports foundations including Alabama coach Nick Saban’s charity, Nick’s Kids. He was able to reach 150,000 students with the powerful message.
Social Media Accounts
You can follow Matt on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as YouTube . Make sure to follow me Facebook and Instagram too! The US Entertainment Magazine is also on Facebook
Upcoming Shows
If you’re in Georgia or Illinois, you can attend one of his shows on the following dates so make sure to attend if you can!
Backroom Lounge Riverton IL Jan 26 6pm
School in Riverton IL Jan 27 6pm
Seaside Heights NJ Feb 14
Mitcham Farm Covington GA Mar 7
Falcon Fury Harley Davidson,Conyers, GA March 8
Musics Videos
YouTube video of “The Call”
Video to “Love Is Stronger”
This video is a student film for Kennon’s song, “You Had To Pick On Me”
For other videos, visit his YouTube channel.
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