TV soundtrack fave Matt Nathanson is back on tour with 'A.I.' winner Phillip Phillips

Matt Nathanson can't seem to sit still.

Last summer, the singer/songwriter toured with Train and the Fray. After his latest album, Show Me Your Fangs, launched in October, he headed out for an acoustic set. Now, he's at it again, this time with a full band and American Idol Season 11 winner Phillip Phillips as a co-headliner.

Nathanson recorded his first album in 1993, while he was still in college. His music gained popularity in the mid-2000s, when songs such as "Come on Get Higher," "All We Are," and "I Saw" were featured on NCIS, Big Shots, Scrubs, and other shows.

We caught up with Nathanson recently in advance of his gig with Phillips on Tuesday at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Fairmount Park. This interview has been edited for length.

Why do you love being on the road so much?

Playing the shows and being able to connect with people is really rewarding. I guess I'm just kind of an extrovert in that way. The music living inside of a vacuum is its own reward, but to be able to get out and have this community of people and togetherness - especially these days, when everyone's so divided and yelling at each other - it's nice.

You and Phillips had only texted and cyber-chatted when you agreed to go on tour together. How has it been?

I had only heard great things about him, and then when we finally did meet, it was all pretty true. He's pretty much the nicest human on the planet. It's awesome. We hang out all the time and we've been playing in each other's sets. He has this crazy voice. He could sing you the phone book and you'd be psyched.

You once wrote that music helps you transcend your broken brain. What did you mean by that?

Music is the greatest thing in the world. I put it on and my anxiety goes away, and my love of people increases, and my love of the world increases. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, so I don't know what any of those things are like. But I'm assuming it's the greatest drug.

When you put on "Born to Run," or you put on "Nothing Compares 2 U," that's human beings at their finest. I don't necessarily need to hang out with Sinead O'Connor or Bruce Springsteen. I don't need more people. But I could certainly hang with the things they've created. I could hang with those things forever. They're like nutrition.

You are very active on social media. What are you trying to project to your fans?

I feel like everybody's so exclusive, and closed off, and scared. Being who I am comes with inherent privilege, and if I don't make space for people who don't have that privilege, and if I don't have the empathy to listen and be compassionate, then I'm not doing my job as a human being. So that's usually where I come from when I post things.

As a straight white man, there's enough of my voice in the universe. We have been in power here in this country for a long time. But there's so many articulate, intelligent human beings - passionate, coming from their perspective - that it's easy for me just to direct what little bit of a stage I have, direct a light onto things like that.

You mentioned you're reading James Baldwin. When you're choosing literature, what do you look for, and how does it impact your music?

It all sort of just goes into this pot - my brain. I'm looking to transcend my judgment. I have this judge in wait on all the information that comes into my brain. And it's so unbelievably amazing when things go past the judge and go right to the heart and move me. It all informs the songs, and it all informs the way I raise my kid and the way I live my life.

So what's up with all of your cat pictures on Instagram?

Oh, my god, I love cats. I have two cats, Rufus and Mr. Beasley. Animals are so dialed into energy and the vibrations of the universe that it's rad to be with them and to have them in your life.

You're working on a new album while on tour. How's it coming along?

I feel like every record gets more honest, and this record feels uber-honest and super-straightforward. I've been listening to a lot of R&B and soul music over the last couple years, and the lyrics are so unbelievably straightforward and so effective. It's about groove, and it's about message. That's been really influencing the way I've been writing.

Your music has this underlying romanticism and hope in it. Where does that come from?

I never used to think I had hope or faith because I'm not religious, I'm not really all that spiritual. I feel like I just have faith in humans. From an art perspective, from a compassion perspective, human beings are capable of epic [achievements]. I just know that people can get there. People underestimate their own capacity and their own power.

What has 20 years in the music business taught you?

The only currency that really matters in the world is your unique voice and your own [messed]-up view of the way the world is. Records that I go back to, that save my life continually, are ones where people who are unafraid can be who they are. Assimilating for the sake of trying to fit does not make good art. And so what I've learned is that the songs that are the most rewarding to me on all levels are ones where I'm as honest as I can be about who I am.

Phillip Phillips and Matt Nathanson: 7 p.m. August 9Tuesday at the Mann Center, 5201 Parkside Ave. Tickets: $29.50-$55. Information: 215-546-7900 or manncenter.org.

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