'GRACE'NOTES

[Brian Damage]

August 28, 2007 -- MAT Kearney is singing for "Grey's Anatomy."

Kearney and his song, "Breathe In Breathe Out," will be featured in the hit ABC show's annual music video, which will premiere on the network Sept. 20 during a clip show bringing viewers up-to-date on all the comings-and-goings of the surgical interns of Seattle Grace.

"We feel like this track is the perfect 'Grey's' song - emotional, hopeful and a beautiful piece of writing - perfect for a new 'Grey's' video," says Betsy Beers, one of the show's executive producers.

Previously, ABC has made Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars," The Fray's "How to Save a Life" and Brandi Carlile's "The Story" into videos, all of which intersperse scenes of the artists with clips from the show. "Chasing Cars" and "How to Save a Life" went on to become big hits, with "Chasing Cars" becoming iTunes' top download last fall and "How to Save a Life" hitting number three on Billboard's Hot 100.

Kearney's no stranger to "Grey's." He's already had three songs - "All I Need," "Crashing Down" and "Where We Gonna Go From Here" from his album "Nothing Left to Lose" - appear on the soundtrack of the medical drama.

His song "Undeniable" was used to promote NBC's "Friday Night Lights" and TNT used his album's title track, "Nothing Left to Lose," as the backdrop to an image-building campaign.

Kearney integrates a simple, singer-songwriter sound with easy spoken-word raps that give him an accessible, different, catchy style. Besides working with TV shows, Kearney has opened for John Mayer, Sheryl Crow and The Fray. "Nothing Left to Lose" made it on to Billboard's Top 100 list, and went to number two on its Alternative New Artist chart.

Along with Kearney's video, "Grey's Anatomy" is releasing its Season 3 soundtrack next month, the follow-up to two earlier very successful "Grey's" CDs released after the first two seasons.

Volumes one and two of the "Grey's" soundtracks sold over 300,000 copies each, making them the top-selling TV show soundtracks of the past four years - not counting "American Idol" compilations. In fact, a boxed set of all three CDs also will be released at the same time as the Season 3 record.

Season three includes "Breathe In Breathe Out," and Carlile's "The Story" as well as John Legend's "Sun Comes Up," Paolo Nutini's "Million Faces" and "Moon and Sun" by Gomez, one of the show's favorite artists. Fans who download the soundtrack on iTunes will get two bonus tracks: Patrick Watson's "The Great Escape" and Black Cat John Brown's "Alamo Race Track."

"It is always difficult to narrow down the selection of songs to a manageable number - it was really hard this year," says Beers. "You have to still love the song after it is placed, and you have heard it over and over again in the editing room. Despite the seemingly endless, repeated listenings, all the songs we chose we still love to play in the car going home."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08282007/tv/gracenotes.htm