On WABE’s series “Speaking of Music,” we hear stories from local musicians in their own words. Mike Kinnebrew is a Macon-based singer-songwriter from Atlanta who writes “lyrically heavy, lyrically driven” acoustic music in pop, Americana and folk styles.
His polished sound and expressive voice seem to come naturally from a singer-songwriter who started in high school, inspired after admiring the swagger of a guitar-wielding peer: “I remember being forced to go to church camp, and I didn’t know anyone, but I watched this guy who would come out and sit under the tree during the free time and play his acoustic guitar, and everybody would gather around him, especially the girls. And I just remember thinking to myself, ‘I need to learn how to do that.'” Amassing a repertoire of popular covers, he cut his teeth playing in bars and restaurants throughout high school before trying his hand at songwriting.
The featured track “What’s Left of Me” is Kinnebrew’s latest single, showcasing his long-cultivated expertise at eloquently sharing deep, personal reflections through music. In the song, Kinnebrew takes an inventory after his first several months of sobriety and what he’s learned about himself. “It’s a song about second chances. It’s a song about change. I’m 45 years old, and it’s easy to believe that you just are what you are and that if you haven’t changed by now, you’re not going to … don’t believe the lie that it’s too late,” he said.
