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've known from a very early age that singing was what I was supposed to do. There was this unmistaken, undeniable passion within me to sing country music.
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.
I'm not much of a water skier, my legs are too skinny for that, so I just try to tube and have fun, just ride.
I love Tennessee, but they don't have the pine trees and the sandy soil and the black water that I grew up around.
My manager came up with the idea of taking a Pro Tool rig out on the road to record every night and I thought it was a great idea. I felt like it would be good to record over a certain period of time and then take the best performances of that collection of recordings. It appealed to me that it wasn't going to be from just one location.
