Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I love North Carolina.
Music is what I do naturally.
My family was all musicians. We jam all the time.
I didn't see myself doing TV. It's time-consuming.
It's hard to deny talent. If you're good, you're good.
Most entertainment careers aren't going to end in fame.
Education is one of the most important tools that you can give somebody.
'The Storms We Share' has been a project that I've been working on for so long.
I can't figure out why fans keep coming, maybe it's because they dig the songs.
Music comes out of me most naturally and would be the hardest to give up forever.
The acting thing is the side benefit of becoming a little bit well known with my music.
Kids think books are cool, especially when they see that people they think books are cool are reading.
There is also something exciting about the risk. Somewhere in me is a sadist that likes pain, I guess.
I like to read really good books - anything that's really great, whether it's fiction, non-fiction, how-to, or whatever.
I've been really lucky to have a lot of cool people and to be around a lot of cool celebrities that I've got to learn from.
When I got signed, I wanted to be involved in a charity, but it was hard because I didn't know which problems to start with.
I was a good student. My mom is a teacher, and her side of the family is all teachers. She put a big emphasis on getting good grades.
I never was strutting through the hallways like, "Yeah, I'm a singer/songwriter." That's never a cool thing to do - to be the brooding guy.
My world on the road always ends up feeling really small which is ironic because that's when I'm seeing the most places and meeting the most people!
I have come to terms with the fact that it's called pop music - that's what I play, and that is what I write. I think it is a pretty broad category.
It's like a dream sometimes, a song just pops into your head and you can't tell if it's something you heard or it's new and you got to write it down.
I base my roots and history in old blues, old country and old bluegrass, and I like rock 'n' roll, and somehow it all came together, and that is what I am playing now.
Getting on stage, for me, was a huge thing when I first started. And back in high school, everyone was in rock bands and I was a singer/songwriter. It just seems kind of lame.
In general, I'm pretty shy and nervous about a lot of things. For me to get on stage for the first time took so many times at an open mic before I finally got on stage and did it.
I don't how many of us get to go to the next level, and I don't know how many people on my level get to go to the next level after that. I think it is the songs that can take you there.
I went from living with my parents, to being signed out of high school. I have never, not had a boss, or someone else responsible for me. It is really cool as an artist to have that freedom.
I was in high school and I had an independent album out, and we kept sending that out, and I was doing shows. No one really dug it. It was very Americana and had a lot of folk elements in it.
I think one of the reasons that I love the fans that have stuck around, because I really enjoy writing different kinds of songs. I don't know if I write them well or not, but I can write them.
Just true to form with life sometimes - what you're trying to do doesn't necessarily work out, but what ends up happening can be a lot better. I just relax and say whatever is going to happen - happens.
My favorite part of touring is when I see girls that I've been talking to on my site and then meeting them in person. I can't believe how well the fans get along together. Everyone just seems to be really cool.
I don't know how to make magic. For most songwriter's that has only happened once or twice, and I don't know how to re-create that. I know that there are some tricks and tools, but the magic is the amazing part.
A lot of people can figure out the social media aspect of it, or the merchandising aspect, or whatever and get enough momentum to start a career. To sustain it, you have to keep writing and you have to keep creating.
As an independent artist it is so easy to get caught up in websites, social media, merchandise, when I am going to put out an EP, fining a producer, finding a studio to record in and you have to remember at the end of the day you should be writing music.