Nashville-based singer, songwriter, guitar player with two gold records who just released a new song in late September, the fifth single this year that has either been his own or that he has been featured on. He recently performed at the 2nd Las Vegas Songwriters Festival and can be seen next month at the 42nd Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival. Early in his career he was the keyboard player for Luke Bryan – who he would later tour with – and for Tracy Byrd and soon had success on his own with hits that landed in the Top 15 on the Billboard Country Charts. A regular on the Grand Ole Opry, one of his songs was performed on NBC’s TODAY Show and praised by Rolling Stone. He has an amazing 468 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify, where his top three songs alone have a combined total of over 125 million streams. He has put up equally impressive numbers on YouTube, where his official channel has a total of over 60 million combined video views.
“Having record deals and having hits on the radio – I’m now an independent artist and – I’ve always wanted to record (“Leaving October”) and it just felt like the time was right.”
“I wasn't the normal kid that would just bang on a piano just to see how much noise I can make. I was truly interested in figuring it out.”
“After graduating high school, I was a correctional officer for a couple of years, and I knew pretty quick that I did not want that to be a career. And I knew music was very strong inside of me.”
“It wasn't until I got hired to play piano for Luke Bryan that he planted the seed with me about writing songs.”
“I got the opportunity to play with Luke (Bryan) and that was like in 2004. Wasn't long after that I got hired to play piano for Tracy Byrd, and that was in ‘05 and ’06. And then I was playing lower Broadway
this whole time and then finally I got discovered in Nashville at a place called The Stage, and this was in 2008, and then signed a record deal in ‘09.”
“Back then you just get a recording of all the songs, and you learn them and you come out on the road and if you do good you get to keep the gig. If you don't, they'll just keep looking for somebody else.”
“I always felt like I was in the right place and I felt like I was meant to be where I was. And I always knew that if it was meant to be it would present itself.”
“My goal ultimately was just to be in Nashville, play music, and pay my bills. And I was able to do that pretty quick, right out of the gate.”
“Traveling and being my own band leader, my own bus driver, my own crew loading my own gear in and out, I learned a lot and I was road ready. And it taught me a lot. And I learned how to entertain, I learned how to work a crowd, I learned (that) one set list might work for this audience, but then you drive 200 miles to another and that same set list wouldn't work. You learned how to pivot and play what people wanted to hear.”
“I was very fortunate early on to be put in rooms with songwriters way better than me and I was taught by the best.”
“I never wanted it to feel like a job, so I try to make sure that when I do have a co-write it's with somebody I don't mind spending the day with.”
“Be nice and be cool on your way up because the same people you deal with on your way up are the people you're going to be dealing with on your way down. So, don't burn any bridges.”
“I’m not trying to be famous anymore and so I can pick and choose my dates, the shows that I travel for, it has to check a couple of boxes for me.”
“These days… record labels, I don't think they know what they're doing… there's so many artists out there right now that are selling out arenas that have never had a song on the radio.”
“Leaving October”
“Outskirts of Heaven”