Mat Kearney brings 'Hanging by a Heartstring' to The Fillmore Charlotte in April

The songwriter's first Charlotte date since a 2024 Knight Theater show is Sunday, April 18, 2027, at The Fillmore, on the tour behind his new album.

Mat Kearney's last Charlotte show was Sept. 24, 2024, at the Knight Theater. His next one moves across town to a standing room — and arrives with a new record in hand.

Mat Kearney plays The Fillmore Charlotte on Sunday, April 18, 2027, at 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster. The date was announced Oct. 27, and The Fillmore holds about 2,000.

The tour is named for Hanging by a Heartstring, the album Kearney announced in June with an Oct. 9 release date. It follows his self-titled eighth album, which he talked up to Atwood Magazine as "the margarita pizza of my music career" — his way of describing a record stripped back to the basics he does best. By April, the new songs will have had six months to settle in, with fans who've lived with them through a winter.

By April, the new album will have had six months to settle in.

He's been easing them into the world for a while. Ahead of release, Grand Rapids' Local Spins noted that Kearney had already introduced several of the new songs on social media, and that his Meijer Gardens show tied to the rollout sold out. A Boston listing for his Chevalier Theatre date led with the same news: new record, out Oct. 9. Charlotte gets the songs once they're fully broken in.

The room change is the local story here. Two years ago Charlotte saw Kearney in the Knight Theater; this time it's The Fillmore, a general-admission club roughly the same size. That tends to make for a different kind of night — more of the crowd on its feet and closer to the stage, and a set that can lean into the songs that move as easily as the ones built for quiet listening. Kearney has spent his career on both sides of that line, and a room like The Fillmore gives him space to use both.

A Sunday night in April is a gentle slot, too. It's a show you can make without taking Monday off, and with an 8 p.m. start you're home at a reasonable hour.

The JamBase listing has the show details, and tickets are on sale now. For people who caught him at the Knight in 2024, this one should feel like the next chapter rather than a repeat: new album, new room, same voice.

Kearney's songs have always traded on small moments made to sound big — a drive, a phone call, a decision you can't take back. Hanging by a Heartstring is a title in that tradition. April will be the first chance to hear how it holds up in a Charlotte room with the house lights down.

Sources: Mat Kearney (Wikipedia) (en.wikipedia.org); “The margarita pizza of my music career”: Mat Kearney Is All-In on His Self-Titled Eighth Album (Atwood Magazine) (atwoodmagazine.com); Tunesmith Mat Kearney set for Meijer Gardens show (Local Spins) (localspins.com); Mat Kearney at Chevalier Theatre (The River Boston) (theriverboston.com); Mat Kearney at The Fillmore Charlotte (JamBase) (jambase.com)