Across eight studio albums, the multi-Platinum songwriter and producer has topped multiple Billboard charts, landed four songs on the Hot 100, amassed more than 2.63 billion global streams, performed on TODAY, Ellen, The Tonight Show, Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and toured alongside artists like John Mayer and NEEDTOBREATHE while building a formidable headline career of his own. But after two decades of music taking him places he never imagined and pulling him away from the people he loves most, the question wasn’t what he had accomplished, but why he was still doing it.

Hanging by a Heartstring (releasing October 9th, 2026) is where he found his way back to the answer. Part love letter to Nashville and part honest reckoning with the road behind him, the album explores enduring love, self-reflection, and the line between chasing a dream and holding on to what’s real. To tell that story, Kearney called on legendary session musicians who helped shape Nashville’s sound, filling the record with what he calls “southern furniture.” The result is the most lived-in music of his career, indie singer-songwriter at its core with Americana grain running through it. It’s the sound of a husband and father who’s been at this long enough to stop keeping up and go deeper instead.