Hunter Hayes quotes:

Unfortunately, I'm more experienced than I care to admit on long-distance relationships. Just because that is my life. I travel because I love to. As a result, I have to sort of make it work when a relationship kind of comes into view.

Singing live is my favorite. When people sing along to your songs, the circle is complete.

A bass player has to think and play like a bass player. A drummer has to play and think like a drummer, and stay out of the way of the vocalist. The guitar player has to respect everybody else.

I always loved LeAnn Rimes and especially Clint Black for his soulfulness. As I've gotten older, my influences have broadened - John Mayer, Michael Buble, Stevie Wonder, Keith Urban, Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Beatles - all of these artists have somehow been a part of my development as a songwriter.

Every demo I do has a mandolin or resonator on it - some element of the bluegrass or classic country world that I grew up listening to and that first drew me in. And then I always try to find somewhere for a bluesy guitar sound, because that's also what I love. Musically, I'm always finding my way home.

Meeting Stevie Wonder was a massive, lifetime achievement for me. He's one of the sweetest people. I sense a kindred spirit in him, and I hope he'd say the same. Actually, he did.

In any city or town, you can find a good, rocking Italian place. The most unhealthy thing on the menu? I'll have two of those!

I'm very shy and awkward. I think the best thing is to embrace it. It's about accepting who you are and what you want to become and knowing all that you've got to work with, whether it's good or bad. My music was the only place I could be me for the longest time.

My favorite song depends on the day, what I'm going through, what I'm feeling.

I struggled with feeling confident for a long time, but I think it's important to be strong and not compromise for anyone or a relationship - I'm drawn to that.

When I was in high school, I had binders with pictures of tour buses.

I've got a lot of dreams I want to achieve, and I hope someone can cheer me on as I'll cheer them on in their dreams.

I'm from Louisiana, and that's where I got my start, in Cajun music. There's a huge music scene down there centered around our culture. Those are people that are not making music for a living. They are making music for the fun of it. And I think that's the best way I could have been introduced to music.

I've always been shy, but I see that as a good thing because it kept me focused on music. When I was in seventh grade, I asked my parents for a mobile recording system for Christmas, and I got it. I didn't come out of my room for years after that. I'd get invited to the movies and I'd say, 'I'm gonna finish a couple of demos.'

Encore' was an experiment. 'Encore' was the second chance at a first impression. 'Encore' was not completely planned.

I love the practicality of a good car. You know what I mean? And when I say 'practicality,' I mean the complete practicality of a Ferrari 458, a wonderfully fantastic every day car.

As a new artist - I don't care who you talk to - I think everyone would agree, it's hard to get your expectations right.

I grew up in a fun-loving environment - you work hard and play hard.

I hope people half my age and twice my age will listen to my music - I want it to live forever and for my audience to feel like they have a friend in my music. Music is a spirit. It heals. It's an amazing thing to be loved and appreciated, and sometimes, music has not just been my best friend, it's been my only friend.

I started writing when I was around 6. I say 'writing,' but it was really just making up stuff! I started writing and doing my own thing. I didn't really know what a demo was or anything like that, so I started getting interested in studio gear and started learning about one instrument at a time. My first instrument was an accordion.

There's something fun about the road because there's no 9 to 5. But I do find myself making the effort to take some time off. As much as I don't want to, I have to. I need to reset. I love weeks off, because I can go in the studio and just be creative again.

I'm in my dream world.

I wrote my first song at 6. I spent every day with the guitar, and I just made up songs.

Wanted' is about a girl I was friends with, but at the time it was teetering on the edge of something more. I wanted to show her that I really cared about her. 'Wanted' was my way of saying, 'we're friends and have a great foundation, and this could be something really special.'

When I was in seventh grade, I asked my parents for a mobile recording system for Christmas, and I got it. I didn't come out of my room for years after that. I'd get invited to the movies and I'd say, 'I'm gonna finish a couple of demos.'

I don't even have a type, I don't think. My type is just whoever can get along with me.

I am, by nature, a guitar player... I learned all of these other instruments around that, and around the theory that I built learning the guitar.

Every time I take a photo, it goes into SnapSeed. Even if it's just a price tag on something, it still goes into SnapSeed, and I start editing it. I'm not a photographer, so I need all the help I can get when it comes to make a picture look cool.

My dad said 'When you love what you do, you never work a day in your life,' and I agree with that.

Country music busts the wall between performer and audience. There's a connection because there's a vulnerability, a confessional quality, to so much of the songwriting. Those lyrics take you in.

I wrote my first song when I was 6 years old. It was actually called 'Six Years Old.'

When I was 13 or 14, I took seven months off from touring. I did a lot of weekend gigs in Louisiana. We have fairs and festivals every weekend. But I took seven months off. That's when I really started digging deep. I wrote a couple songs that year that I still play every now and then for people.

My first instrument was an accordion. Growing up in Louisiana, my grandmother gave me an accordion because of our Cajun heritage.

All my band members were old enough to be my dad. It was like this family vibe.

Growing up in Louisiana, my grandmother gave me an accordion because of our Cajun heritage. What ended up happening was I started learning about more instruments, so I just kind of went that route. Music's really all I've ever done.

My mom makes the best Cajun stuff. I'm a big gumbo guy. I've lost a lot of my Louisiana accent, so now when I say 'gumbo,' I feel like someone who's never said the word before.

Crowded hallways, are the loneliest places, for outcasts and rebels,or anyone who just dares to be different.

I'm a nerd. Total geek. I never went to homecoming or prom or anything.

There's so much more to life than what you're feeling now

I was born with this love for music, and I say 'born with' because I don't really remember a day waking up and deciding that I'm going do to music. It's been all I've ever done and all I've ever wanted to do.

I'm naturally shy, so the social media thing is new to me. I haven't really figured out how my voice sounds on social media, you know? I don't want to tweet everyday just for the sake of tweeting. I want to make sure whatever I do there is honest. Social media can very quickly get fake, and I don't want to be that guy.

There's a lot of people I'd like to write with, like Keith Urban or even as far out as Stevie Wonder.

I have a string of competitiveness in me. It's really strange 'cause it's not something that I would even expect myself to have, but every now and then it kinda sneaks out, you know.

I don't believe in making a record and rushing it.

I am a huge, huge Ronnie Milsap fan. I have been for a long time.

I could be myself. I'm very shy and awkward. I think the best thing is to embrace it.

Writing by myself, I spread that out more. I'll spend more time on a song then. I'm more critical about it, because there's no one else in the room to tell me, 'That's really not translating. I'm not getting what you're saying.' So, I'm constantly rewriting it, thinking, 'No, that's fine,' and going back.

Anytime I can go fly for a few hours, I go. It's stressful and stress-relieving at the same time.

Robert Duvall saw me playing at a restaurant in Louisiana and invited me to be an extra in his movie 'The Apostle.' He gave me a guitar for my sixth birthday, and I thought that was the coolest thing in the world.

I've got some crazy, stupid big goals. I really wanna headline arenas. I wanna have such a big crew that we've got to have 20 or 30 buses on the road because that's how big the show we're putting on is.

Every demo I do has a mandolin or resonator on it - some element of the bluegrass or classic country world that I grew up listening to and that first drew me in. And then I always try to find somewhere for a bluesy guitar sound, because that's also what I love.

Albums are chapters. They're part of a story.

I want to find someone who's really into something like I'm really into something, so that I can support them and we can both cheer each other on. I've got a lot of dreams I want to achieve, and I hope someone can cheer me on as I'll cheer them on in their dreams.

I believe when you meet the right person it clicks, and you both know and you start making it work, you know?

I am grateful I got the chance to meet Stevie Wonder! He's like royalty to me and is one of my biggest inspirations.

All I knew when I moved to Nashville was that I wanted to make music in whatever shape and form I could.

'Encore' was an experiment. 'Encore' was the second chance at a first impression. 'Encore' was not completely planned.

I was addicted to playing music.

Thank you to country radio for believing in me.

I write for myself. I don't write because I have a record coming out. I write because I want to. I need to.

A good album can make your day. A great album can change your life.

All the people I hung out with were musicians.

Any time I write a new song, I am jazzed about it for like 24 hours and then I am over it and want to write another one.

Anyone who tells you they're not nervous playing on the CMAs stage, I'm afraid they're not telling you the whole story.

At 22, there's a lot of trying to figure out love, which at the end of the day, I've realized I'll never figure out, though the process of trying is fun.

Don't be afraid to do something different Dare to be something more.

Dream as big as you want because they come true everyday

I don't have a girlfriend. I don't know if I have a type, but I really like girls who are driven. I really care about music, so I like it when a girl really cares about something too. Whatever it is they are into, I'll be their biggest fan.

I just love music gear, I'm a total geek all around.

I love flying planes.

I truly believe that when you've found the one you're searching for, you become a better version of yourself. You're better for it.

I used to think there was a scientific way to do things. Like a proper way to answer a question or that kind of stuff. It's like, there's not! There's not a method, there's not a science to it.

If I could make noise with anything, I was going to.

Like a wave on the ocean I will always come right back to you.

The rule of songwriting: say what you want to say, say it again, say it a different way, then say it again.

The stage is my comfort zone, and playing live is what I've always wanted to do. It's why I want to do two hundred dates a year. I wouldn't feel that way if I were nervous onstage.

There is a bit of a movement as far as younger people in country music. That is cool because people are saying things like, 'I didn't listen to country music until so-and-so came along.' And I'm like, 'Yeah! Now you know why I love it.

To be the name on somebody's shirt that they've made themselves in preparation for one of your shows - it doesn't get much cooler than that.

When you hear his music, mine will all of a sudden make sense.

Yes, I did lock myself in my room for about two years and write some songs and things like that. But I don't feel like I missed out on a whole lot.

I'm not a photographer, so I need all the help I can get when it comes to make a picture look cool.

I am blessed beyond belief.