Musician

The minute I get a big head and start acting like the big man on campus, it's all downhill from there.

I want to go to Nashville and get cracking on this album.

I was an Elvis freak. That's all I listened to growing up.

I want to do music the rest of my life.

You know I used to sit there and I'd go outside and play ball and everything, but now in my free time I just kind of lay back and relax because this atmosphere is so busy and stressful, so anytime I can sleep, you'd best believe I'm sleepin'.

I keep a lot of my old baseball hats, and if you look in the hats I've had since I started pitching, you'll see 'Philippians 4:13' written on the brim. That's the Scripture that gets me through the day because sometimes you can't do it all by yourself. You can't do it on your own, so you lean on Him.

When they first said I made it through it was just crazy, I mean all kinds of thoughts were going through my head, and you know to be watching the show for nine seasons and to be on it now is surreal, it's so surreal.

When you're out there talking about your faith and what you believe in, you'll face some backlash. But mostly, I've received support.

I don't think you'd call me a traditionalist. But you can say I have an old soul, because I grew up listening to Conway Twitty and Hank Williams.

The road is a fun place, and it's a great place to get out there and explore the country. But as far as the road life with the 'rock n' roll temptations,' there's not much of that with me.

For me, my number one priority always has to be the music, and I'm going to work school around my music - not music around my school.

I'm a pretty low-key North Carolina boy. I like to go fishing and hang out with my friends.

It's so surreal being here.

When you're the opener, you're the guy getting the crowd warmed up. But when you're the headliner, you're the main dude. People come to see you, and you have to deliver. It's a cool position to be in.

I don't want to put anyone down, but you won't see any twerking from me.

I'm in college at North Carolina State University. I'm about to start my sophomore year and have an apartment on campus with three buddies I've grown up with. I get to be normal when I'm there, and then I tour Thursday through Sunday.

What makes me unique is that I'm normal.

If my life were a song it would probably be titled 'Roller Coaster', up and down all the time.

My favorite type of music to sing is country, and my favorite type of music to listen to is country.

I was watching the show last year and it didn't even cross my mind that this could even happen.