What I did to celebrate was I went home to my 535-square-foot apartment by myself and ate supper by myself. That was how I celebrated getting a record deal.

I grew up around people that enjoyed life day to day and found pleasure in simple things.

I'm normally the guy that stands off in the corner.

I remember those days right after I graduated from college. All I had to do was wake up in the morning and think about writing songs. It's not like that anymore, needless to say.

I'm definitely not going to go and sing a song that condones certain things.

Singing allowed me to express myself in ways that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

My dream was to go to Nashville. I had my sights set on my dream. I used to have an '89 Toyota Ford truck. On the front of the truck, I had this license plate with cowboy boots and a guitar that I had airbrushed at Wal-Mart. It said 'Chasin' A Dream.' That was kind of my motto.