"If you leave it for long, any more than a week, you have to kick the voice back into action," he said by telephone from Arizona last week. "And singing in the shower doesn't count."
Yes, Kearns sings in the shower and admits he loves the sound.
"If you could capture the natural acoustics of a shower on a CD, it would be marvelous," he said.
Along with Ronan Tynan and Finbar Wright, he will be at Marymoor Park in Redmond for a 7 p.m. show Friday. (Tickets are $49.50 and $99.50 and are available through Ticketmaster.) Kearns said there will be songs from all eras of Irish history, particularly those dealing with Irish immigration to other countries.
"Imagine leaving home and getting settled here in the United States and dealing with the reality of never seeing your family again," he said. "We call this the heritage tour because so many people have Irish roots in their background."
Kearns dispelled one myth about singers on the road — they aren't all party animals — even though he and Tynan are both bachelors and self-nicknamed the Wild Colonial Boys.
"It's hard work," he said. "Our time schedules are tight. Once you're in town, you spend the day at the venue rehearsing with the orchestra. Then we have to get ready for the show and the next day or so do it all over again.
"I'd love to see the Seattle area, but we just won't have time."