For every single show you do, make sure you go out and literally try to beat what you did the day before. It's something that you can incorporate into everything you do. If you're constantly trying to beat your best, over time it will help you grow.

I'm a huge fantasy football fan.

I write a lot of my music, but not all of it. I have always subscribed to the 'best song wins' theory when making an album.

Any time I'm trying to find that groove on a big tempo song, I go back and listen to some Aerosmith records. 'Love in an Elevator,' 'Rag Doll,' all that stuff was really great music. It's something that I still dig and go back and listen to.

My favorite part is, once a song is out there to the public, having someone come up and tell their own story about why one of your songs resonated with them. It's an incredible feeling.

Some of my favorite records growing up were Christmas albums. The ones I liked best were the albums that you could listen to from start to finish. You could put them on while you're decorating the tree or driving around looking at Christmas lights.

Everybody's like, 'You're tall. You didn't play basketball?' They asked me when I was a freshman in high school, and basketball practice was the same time a lot of stuff happened with choir. And I picked choir, which, normally, people would scratch their heads at, but it worked out okay.

I grew up loving Vince Gill. That guy sounds just like his record - or better than his record. I've always been such a fan.

We didn't have a whole lot of cash growing up. My mom was a single parent for a while before my stepdad came into the picture.

If you were to ask me when I was 17 if I was mad because I didn't have a deal, I would have probably said, 'Yeah.' Now I'm so glad I got it when I got it. People tell you to be patient and wait. Patience is not a virtue of mine, but I think everything definitely happened the right way for me.