Taylor Swift Taught David Nail to Keep His Tour Simple

David Nail took lessons from the best. The singer admits he learned plenty about his current I'm a Fire Tour from one of the biggest concert-sellers of this generation -- Taylor Swift.

"When we were out with Taylor Swift, I'd watch the show, and all I could think was, 'Man, there's so much room for error!'" Nail tells People magazine. "How you're able put 100 percent into your performance like she does, singing and walking down steps that are two feet wide and have no railing, it seems like there are too many things that could go wrong. She makes it look easy."

The Missouri native also took notes from Lady Antebellum when he served as the opening act on their Take Me Downtown Tour.

"They are constantly tweaking," Nail says. "I had always felt like sound check was just, you go out there, that sounds good, my job is done. Lady A does really long sound checks, they're so intense about it. They go over what happened the night before, what went right, what fell a little flat, what could be done differently. The first time we went out with them, they were coming off days of rehearsal, but after the first night, they changed several things. They're always out there trying to make things better for their audience."

But perhaps the biggest lesson he learned was from Darius Rucker -- and it covers both his life on and off the road.

“I would say we probably learned more as a group from Darius, and we’ve played with some great people,” Nail says. “He took me under his wing, and taught me a lot — first and foremost — about how to treat people.

"The last night out with Darius, he put his arm around me and said, 'If you've learned anything at all from us, I hope it's how to treat people,'" Nail recalls. "He and his people treat everybody well; it's a pleasure to be on his tour."

While the 'Kiss You Tonight' singer took notes from all of his tour bosses, there are a couple things that he says he definitely won't use on his own tour.

"Bridges, steps and ramps are a recipe for disaster for somebody like me," he maintains. "I don't do any tricks. I'm scared to death of heights. Sometimes I'll look down off the stage, and I'll get freaked out. I try not to get too close to the edge."

See a list of all of Nail's upcoming tour stops here.