Your whole life has changed since American Idol. What has stayed the same?
Me personally, I’m still the same. My life at home hasn’t really changed all that much. I just went to school today and when I’m home, it’s all the same and it doesn’t change until I’m out on the road.
When the show wrapped, there were all these rumors about you and Lauren. Are you single now?
I’m still single. I’m a busy man nowadays and I don’t have much time to focus on anything except work.
A couple of weeks ago when you were singing the national anthem, the microphone wasn’t on. What went though your mind when that happened?
I was dealing with the mic for about fifteen minutes prior, I was telling them the mic wasn’t working and they told me that it would start working when I started singing but it never did. Once they panned on the flag, they gave me a new mic so it wasn’t a huge deal.
Were you nervous at all to sing the national anthem?
You better believe it. That’s a big song, so I just wanted to go up there and do a good job with it and stay true to the way it’s supposed to be and that’s what I think I did.
Is there anything you do to fight nerves that you have?
I just kind of roll with it. Sometimes, when I hear the right music, I’ll try to get myself pumped up … once I get on stage and I see the crowd, it just kind of flows and I’m fine.
Do you think Idol helped you deal with pressure?
Oh definitely, we had to move quick on that show. Being a coffee shop singer here in North Carolina to playing local gigs to all of the sudden playing in front of 25 million people, that’s a big step up so you had to kind of grow up and deal with that pressure. It taught us a lot of ways to do that.
How have your friends and family reacted to all of this?
What’s cool is that most of my friends think it’s wild, but they still treat me the same. It’s been great with family and friends, but it’s the people who didn’t really know me who got weirded out. With my friends, it’s like nothing ever changed … I’ve grown up with them in church and playing baseball my whole life.
So they’re not going to let you get too big of a celebrity head.
Oh no! They keep me grounded.
Me personally, I’m still the same. My life at home hasn’t really changed all that much. I just went to school today and when I’m home, it’s all the same and it doesn’t change until I’m out on the road.
When the show wrapped, there were all these rumors about you and Lauren. Are you single now?
I’m still single. I’m a busy man nowadays and I don’t have much time to focus on anything except work.
A couple of weeks ago when you were singing the national anthem, the microphone wasn’t on. What went though your mind when that happened?
I was dealing with the mic for about fifteen minutes prior, I was telling them the mic wasn’t working and they told me that it would start working when I started singing but it never did. Once they panned on the flag, they gave me a new mic so it wasn’t a huge deal.
Were you nervous at all to sing the national anthem?
You better believe it. That’s a big song, so I just wanted to go up there and do a good job with it and stay true to the way it’s supposed to be and that’s what I think I did.
Is there anything you do to fight nerves that you have?
I just kind of roll with it. Sometimes, when I hear the right music, I’ll try to get myself pumped up … once I get on stage and I see the crowd, it just kind of flows and I’m fine.
Do you think Idol helped you deal with pressure?
Oh definitely, we had to move quick on that show. Being a coffee shop singer here in North Carolina to playing local gigs to all of the sudden playing in front of 25 million people, that’s a big step up so you had to kind of grow up and deal with that pressure. It taught us a lot of ways to do that.
How have your friends and family reacted to all of this?
What’s cool is that most of my friends think it’s wild, but they still treat me the same. It’s been great with family and friends, but it’s the people who didn’t really know me who got weirded out. With my friends, it’s like nothing ever changed … I’ve grown up with them in church and playing baseball my whole life.
So they’re not going to let you get too big of a celebrity head.
Oh no! They keep me grounded.