Easton Corbin Gets His Big Country Break

Easton Corbin's self-titled debut album hit stores on March 2. Now comes the hard part: maintaining and sustaining what he hopes will be a long, successful career as a country music artist.

Easton's first song from his new album, 'A Little More Country Than That,' has been a commercial and creative success, climbing to No. 10 on the charts. Starting out can be tough, but Easton feels like he's getting his 'sea legs' pretty quickly.

"I think I'm doing a pretty good job getting to know myself and the audience," Easton tells The Boot. "It's just a learning experience, and you've just got to get out there. It helps when you've got good people on your side, and I feel like I have great people on my side."

Easton has been preparing for this moment his whole life. Growing up in rural Gilchrist County, Fla., he spent Saturday nights with his grandparents watching their favorite country TV shows. "My grandparents liked to watch the Opry," remembers Easton. "We'd start Saturday night off with 'Hee Haw' and then 'Opry Backstage' and then 'Opry Live.'

At 15, he began taking guitar lessons from a local musician who had at one time played on sessions in Nashville. Easton would come home from school every day and practice the guitar for hours, sometimes until his fingers were raw, then help his grandfather around the farm.

Easton put Plan B into action by earning a business degree through the College of Agriculture at the University of Florida. He got married in Sept. 2006, and less than a month after their wedding, the singer and his new bride moved to Music City. "I always knew I wanted to move to [Nashville]," Easton says. "There was never any question about it. I didn't want to wake up one day and wish I would have tried it."

Easton took a day job at a local hardware store and his wife found work at a doctor's office. Then came the "timing is everything" break he needed to jump start his music career. A distant cousin, also a professor of music management at the University of Montana, heard Easton's music and asked permission to send it to some of his Nashville contacts. Bingo. The senior director of A&R (artists and repertoire) at Universal Music Group quickly signed him to the label.

Easton continues to prepare himself for the uncertainty of what's ahead, so in that spirit we decided to throw a few random questions his way.

Do you ever get nervous before you go out to perform?

I always have some butterflies in my stomach a little bit. It's just an honor to get to go out there and do that for a living. Once you get out there and get in the first song, [the nerves] kind of go away, and you get into the rhythm, and it's great.

Have you ever forgotten the words to a song?

Oh, yes, I've done that! We were playing a radio show, and I actually forgot the second verse on "A Little More Country Than That." I had sung this song hundreds of times, but for some reason -- I guess it's just human nature -- it just wouldn't come to me. I was in the middle of the song, and I just stopped. So I said, 'Folks, we've come here to do this show for you, and I don't want to leave here not getting the words right. Y'all paid money to get in here, so I want y'all to get your money's worth.' So I started the song over again. And the second time through, we got it right [Laughs] As long as you're having fun and enjoying it, I think everybody else does too.

Do you have an unlisted phone number yet?

Well, I use my cell phone, so I don't have anything listed in a phone book.

What was the most shocking "news" to you when you were a kid? 1) There is no Santa Claus. 2) There is no tooth fairy. 3) The birds and the bees?

Number 3 -- the birds and the bees. The other two were already kind of suspect.

Who told you?

My dad, actually. I was shocked! [laughs]

What can you just not live without?

My guitar. I take it everywhere I go ... when I go home on vacation, it goes there.

Have you set a goal for yourself to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry?

That would be an honor to be able to do that. Overall my goal at this point in my career is to just make the right decisions and make the right moves just to build a foundation to have a career.

What television program is just a waste of your time to watch?

A lot of these reality shows. I don't get it. I feel like they're a waste of my time.

What's your favorite television show that you just hate to miss?

I can't say a certain show but I really like the Discovery Channel and the History Channel.

What would your wife say you need to improve on when it comes to romance?

Probably just being more spontaneous, I guess ... like little surprises here and there.