How did a former marine from Michigan get introduced to country music?
When I was 12 years old, I heard it on the radio. My favorite station was 99.5, which played pop and dance music, but as I got slightly older I switched to country music. I listened to a lot of eighties music as I was growing up, but when I started listening to country music, Garth Brooks was an amazing influence. Then it was people like Travis Tritt, and other artists that came before him. When you were starting out, did you find that there was any kind of country scene here in Michigan? At first, I really didn’t think so. But it spread really quickly and I was surprised at the response that the music started getting. They do the annual Hoedown now, and there are always masses of people that come out to it. It’s great to see the impact that country music is having on Michigan. When you entered “American Idol,” were you concerned about how you’d be perceived by serious country music fans? It was a very touchy situation. After going on there for a couple of weeks and hearing what the ju
