There is no way that I could pinpoint just one person. When I first started, I was listening to Randy Rogers quite a bit, and I was also pretty big into Josh Grider back then. I remember going to a lot of Kevin Fowler shows early, and Eli Young Band was another one of the groups I listened to a lot of when I was learning to write and play guitar.

I believe that being on that show [the Voice] and getting the exposure opened the door for me to get my name and music outside of Texas and the markets I was used to playing in. One of the bigger things that came about from being on the show was that I got on with Paradigm Booking Agency; one of my earlier problems was how hard it is to get booked if you don't have a good booking agency.

It's been cool to see on the Voice all these up-and-coming artists from all over the country just develop and follow their careers as well, because we were all at a beginning point together. Now, after seeing the business side and behind-the-scenes stuff, it's hard for me to watch reality TV and play along like they want you to.

Albom with Trent Willmon is the first project that I haven't had to scrap money together for. The is the first time I've used any outside songs at all; until now it's only been stuff that I've written. This is also the first album of mine that's had any co-writes on it, as well. It's a big step, coming off of anything we've ever done before.

I had a lot of fun [on The Voice] and I learned a whole lot about reality TV, for one, and how they kind of use the artists as characters to make a hit TV show.

It's pretty interesting how it all started out. After The Voice, I got introduced to some of my publishing people. We were out in Los Angeles and they said to give them a call when the show was all said and done and they'd get me into the writing world.

The first time I go out to Nashville, ever (at this point I had only heard the rumors about what it's like) I had three writing sessions set up. The first two canceled on me. I was kind of pissed off at that point. So I just went back to my hotel room and started writing. And even though I've been to L.A. and experienced a lot of things, at the end of the day I just start to feel like I'm playing acoustically at the first bar I ever played at.