In a typical day, I would wake up about 8 A.M., pile all my stuff into my mom's minivan - my guitar, my amp, CDs to sell, a table and a rug - drive it down to the street, and unload it all. I'd wait until about 12, then play for two hours. You could only play in two-hour intervals, so then I would move it all somewhere else.
It sucked to make my own CDs. I'm bad at that. It sucks to figure out how to power my amp. I don't know that stuff.
When I get back with band, the lights, and the whole production, that's me with the full artillery. A quick radio performance keeps me sharp for the big show.
I'm a humble guy, but I'm audacious.
Street performing can be a great teaching ground and a barometer for what you're doing. It's rough and unforgiving at times, but it can be wild and fun and a real open canvas for your creativity.
You can't have Thanksgiving and not just be like, 'All right, where's the football.' It's been branded very, very well. You can't have one without the other at this point.
I really wanted to write a song like Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight.' It's just such a sweet sentiment. It's so simple but so genuine.
It's really fun to have the spotlight and feel ready for it. Not in a conceited way. But just like, 'Man, I think I'm going to give you what you need.'
I always try to find things worth saying, things that are supposed to be said instead of being contrived. I do a ton of writing.
Whether it's a 16-year old girl, or a mom, or a guy, or anybody, as long as they come up and they're excited to meet me 'cause they've had some sort of relationship with something I've created, it's the coolest thing ever. It never gets old. It's awesome.
I had my whole life to write a bunch of crappy songs and then play them in front of people and think, 'All right, that one out of these seven is really good; it's a keeper.' But on this second album, to be honest, I probably wrote about 50 songs where I was just trying to write a hit.
I feel like if you told me I would be having a son, I would be like, 'Yeah, I'm gonna be a parent - I get that.' But when the doctor was like, 'You're gonna have a girl,' I was like, 'What? Who am I?' It's the craziest piece of information that changes who you are. It's sweet.
'Dancing With the Stars' was fun, and it opened me up to dancing.
I love songs, and I love to tell stories, and so a lot of times, if you really want a good story, you got to flip the radio dial over to country.
As a musician, you just want to be able to do what you love.
Seriously, until I was 16 or 17, I didn't care about anything other than ESPN.
I love me some 'Family Guy.'
'Fresh Eyes' was my own little discovery of having been in a relationship for a while and realizing that my favorite part of it is being surprised.
You gain a level of fearlessness performing when no one's there to see you.
Album 1 is proving that you're worth listening to, album 2 is proving that it wasn't a fluke, and album 3 is the most authentic thing I've ever done.
