John Mayer, Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz …

I hesitate to add Matt Wertz to the end of this list, because
there’s something about him that’s different–something that you
can’t quite put your finger on.

I started my search for the answer with his green and white
old-school Nike low-tops.

“I liked sneakers so much that I started writing songs about
them,” Wertz said, an alumnus of the University of Illinois.

“All of my first love songs were actually about footwear,” he
said. After studying industrial design for four years, Wertz
realized that music–not designing sneakers–was his calling.

Wertz’s performance at Frailey’s Midtown Grill on Friday proved
that Wertz, his guitar and his sneakers can play right along with
the best of them, as he seamlessly slipped into a little Ryan Adams
and a lot of Justin Timberlake–even a cover of “The King of
Wishful Thinking.” I’m not sure who was having more fun, Wertz or
his fans, who clamored for their favorite songs so aggressively
that Wertz had no choice but to abandon his set list.

“People were shouting out requests, and I thought, if I don’t
play the guitar, I might get killed,” Wertz said.

Although his audience was relatively harmless, Wertz realizes
that “you also want to kind of be sensitive with what’s going on
with the crowd, and sometimes the songs that you plan out ahead of
time aren’t the best ones to play.”

Wertz mostly stuck with songs off his latest release, Twenty
Three Places, although he also included a few sought-after
tracks from Somedays.

Twenty Three Places offers a breath of fresh air in the
annals of worn-out choruses and well-trodden concepts, including
but not limited to love, girls and relationships. The album is also
the product of being on the road, a reflection on life as it is
lived out of a suitcase.

“People have told me that it’s a driving album,” Wertz said. “I
have heard from several people that … it’s a great road trip CD,
and that’s awesome.”

There is much more to Wertz’s music than dorm room hook-ups and
broken hearts.

“Honestly, I would be fine if I never wrote another breakup song
… I want to try to offer something a little deeper,” Wertz said.
“Maybe that’s like a save-the-world type attitude, but …”

Wertz has certainly succeeded in doing so. While his songs will
make any girl weak in the knees, some are so distinctive that
you’re perking up your ears each time you listen as though you are
about to miss something important.

“I enjoy writing in a way that people can decide for themselves
what the song is about,” Wertz said. So listen carefully, because
some of these seemingly romantic songs aren’t love songs at all–at
least not in the conventional sense.

Since his days with the Christian band Damascus Road, Wertz has
transitioned from writing about his faith to grappling with more
temporal pursuits in his lyrics. Despite this shift, Wertz hasn’t
abandoned his spiritual influence.

“I am inspired a good deal from God,” Wertz said. “The more in
touch I am with God, the more sensitive I am to what’s going on,
and the better my songs are.”

“Red Meets Blue,” arguably one of Wertz’s most intriguing songs,
is a stunning articulation of the ways in which God manifests
Himself.

“I was driving through Colorado, and I was overwhelmed by the
beauty of the space … and I wanted to write in a way that was so
artistic,” Wertz explained. ” ‘All I Know’ is definitely a more
God-focused song, and ‘Red Meets Blue,’ believe it or not, is too,”
Wertz said.

“All I know is what I can do, that I need to write music that is
coming from my heart,” Wertz said of his future. “If it’s a
14-year-old girl or a 30-year-old man…it’s an honor to have
people listening at all, to my music.”