We may have known about Toby Keith's stomach cancer diagnosis for nearly two years, but that didn't keep the news of his Feb. 5 death from hitting hard. The oftentimes outspoken country music star enjoyed a three-decade career as one of the genre's beloved hitmakers, courtesy of unabashed hits like "Who's Your Daddy?," "Made In America" and "I Wanna Talk About Me."

Occasionally his in-your-face persona clashed with folks, particularly when it came to his political views in recent years. But for the most part, it was Keith's blue-collar upbringing and work ethic that shined through and resonated with his legion of listeners. 

It wasn't until his thirties that the future Songwriters Hall of Famer landed his first record deal in 1993, following years grinding away as a rodeo hand, in oil fields and as a semi-professional football player to make ends meet. The Oklahoma-born crooner would go on to record 20 No.1 hits, sell over 40 million records across 26 albums, and gross nearly $400 million touring — cementing himself as one of country music's most successful artists in the process.

As we look back on Keith's life and legacy, here are five essential cuts from the seven-time GRAMMY nominee, whose memory will live on in the hearts of country music artists and fans alike.

"Should've Been A Cowboy" (1993)

Few artists strike gold with their maiden release, but Keith did just that when his song "Should've Been A Cowboy" launched in February 1993. The upbeat track received widespread acclaim, eventually reaching No. 1 on the Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart a few months later.

"Should've Been A Cowboy" takes on a distinctly traditional tone as Keith romanticizes cowboy culture by referencing classic westerns like Gunsmoke with nods to Marshall Dillon and Miss Kitty in addition to six-shooters, cattle drives and Texas Rangers abound. The tune also reinforces the notion that cowboys just have more fun, whether its "stealin' the young girls' hearts, just like Gene [Autry] and Roy [Rogers]" or "runnin' wild through the hills chasin' Jesse James." 

By the looks of Keith's career, he certainly had his fair share of fun, and it may not have come if it weren't for "Should've Been A Cowboy."

"How Do You Like Me Now?!" (1999)

After a successful '90s run (which included two more No. 1s in "Who's That Man" and "Me Too"), Keith kicked off the 2000s with his fourth No. 1 hit, "How Do You Like Me Now?!" In signature Toby Keith fashion, he confronts his haters by asking the titular, rhetorical question, posed to his high school's valedictorian — who was also his crush. "I couldn't make you love me but I always dreamed about livin' in your radio," he sings on the brazen chorus.

The song is a stern reminder to never let anyone keep you from chasing your dreams; it's also a lesson of standing strong on your convictions. Its message also proved fitting for Keith's career: After Mercury Records Nashville rejected the song (and its namesake album) in the late '90s, Keith got out of his deal with them in favor of signing with DreamWorks Records, with whom he released the project a year later. Not only did the single go on to spend five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart, but it became the singer's first major crossover hit.

"Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" (2002)

Keith was never afraid to share his opinion in public or in song, especially when it came to displaying his patriotism and appreciation for those who protect the United States. While the Okie approached this from a softer side on 2003's "American Soldier," his most renowned musings on the subject without a doubt came a year earlier with "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)."

On the angsty ballad — which was written in the wake of his father's March 2001 death and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — Keith channels a universal feeling of American hurt and pride. "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" inspired an equal outpouring of support and outrage that, for better or worse depending on where you stand, helped cement the song into the annals of country music lore.

"I Love This Bar" (2003)

We've all got our favorite watering hole full of its own quirks and characters, from winners to losers, chain-smokers and boozers. Keith taps into that feel-good, hometown hang feeling with "I Love This Bar," a lighthearted tale from 2003's Shock'n Y'all that makes dingy dive bars feel like the prime party destination.

The midtempo track — Keith's 12th No. 1 — further plays into country music drinking tropes as Keith proclaims, "I like my girlfriend, I like to take her out to dinner, I like a movie now and then" before making a hard pivot, adding "but I love this bar." 

All joking aside, the song, and all of the unique individuals described within it, have a harmony to them inside those hallowed walls. It's a kinship that seems more and more difficult to find in today's world, and a sentiment best captured at the song's conclusion: "come as you are."

"As Good As I Once Was" (2005)

Your best days may be behind you, but that doesn't mean you can't still live your best life and thrive in the present — even if you don't get over hangovers as quickly as you used to.

That youthful wisdom is distilled into every lyric of "As Good As I Once Was," a reminiscent story in which a then-44-year-old Keith recounts his prime as a lover, drinker and fighter humbly. That being said, his pride is still quick to take charge with convictions like "I still throw a few back, talk a little smack, when I'm feelin' bullet proof."

Lasting six weeks at No. 1, "As Good As I Once Was" was the biggest of the 15 chart-toppers Keith tallied in the 2000s. And though he scored one more in the following decade (along with several other hits, including the playful drinking song "Red Solo Cup"), "As Good As I Once Was" will live on as one of Keith's quintessential messages of fun-loving confidence: "I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once, as I ever was."

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When Sam Barber wrote his first song, he had no idea how far it would take him. Just 16 at the time, the country singer/songwriter penned "Straight and Narrow," an aching, clear-eyed plea for resilience that revealed his old soul — and proved he's a star on the rise.

"Straight and Narrow," which appeared on Barber's 2023 EP, Million Eyes, was the now 21-year-old's first brush with viral success, racking up streams and drawing in fans who were intrigued by the young guitar slinger who seemed to appear out of nowhere. The song would eventually land on Billboard charts — in both rock and country — and helped Barber earn a Grand Ole Opry debut and a partnership with Atlantic Records.

Barber's latest milestone is his debut album, Restless Mind, which arrived Nov. 1. The double LP shows the true breadth of his artistry, which is grounded in raw, narrative songwriting — like that of two of Barber's musical idols, Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers — and gritty, spare production that puts the listeners' focus squarely on Barber's emotive, bellowing voice.

Barber says he originally planned to record around a dozen songs for the LP, but instead, Restless Mind comprises a whopping 28 tracks. While that volume was intentional, Barber wasn't trying to keep up with the double-album trend country music has seen as of late — he simply wanted to please his fans.

Though he just began sharing his music in 2021, Barber's rapidly growing fan base — who first loved him for his covers on TikTok — continuously asked for more music. He felt his listeners deserved as much from him as he could muster for his debut album, and as he tells GRAMMY.com, "I want them to know I am working very hard."

Barber describes himself as a prolific writer and that it's his love for songwriting, specifically, that motivates him. Restless Mind is "an accumulation of my entire music career up to this point," Barber says, adding that some material comes from his teen songwriting years while other songs are just months old.

At the helm of Restless Mind was producer Eddie Spear, whose creative partnership with Barber began in 2022 after Spear DMed the singer. As one of Zach Bryan's frequent collaborators, Spear's desire to work with Barber wasn't just "surreal" for the budding star, but also validated the work he'd created up to that point. Spear's involvement also helped Barber see his music in a new light.

"Eddie made my songs something that I never could have imagined, just putting extra pieces," Barber says. "And the people I met in the room… It opened my mind to a completely different world of music that I didn't even know was a thing."

One such world is pop. Barber and GRAMMY-winning songwriter Amy Allen, whose extensive list of credits includes cuts for pop stars like Harry Styles and Sabrina Carpenter, met at a co-write and found unexpected creative common ground. Though he initially felt skeptical that they could bridge the gap between their different styles, Barber left their session (which spawned Restless Mind's "Thought of You," as well as a few other unreleased songs) with an expanded sense of what his music could be.

Restless Mind opens with the honest and tender track "Man You Raised," inspired by Barber's close relationship with his mother. After sharing a snippet of a voicemail from her, Barber promises his mother not to let the freewheeling lifestyle of a touring musician get the better of him. A singer who sometimes favors feeling over precision, Barber wrings every last drop of emotion from the lyric, a move that characterizes the rest of the album.

While 28 tracks can be daunting, Restless Mind is thoughtfully sequenced, with other bits of scene-setting audio sprinkled throughout and offering natural resting points. "G-PA," for example, is a clip of Barber's grandfather speaking about how the singer's "mind is always on the move," and sets up the Avery Anna-featuring title track, which offers one of Barber's most haunting vocals.

Another highlight is "Bet on My Ghost," which takes cues from grunge and alt-rock with its droning opening riff and Barber's garbled delivery. "Down the Road" lightens the sonic mood, with a driving beat and rambling riff illustrating the restlessness at the heart of the lyric. Barber closes the LP with "You Know I Know," an ambivalent song about existential exhaustion that makes a drastic musical shift in its final minute — ending Restless Mind in both poignant and captivating fashion.

Barber's live show is equally as compelling as his music, and he suggests that time on the road has been especially educational as he navigates the ins and outs of both stardom and live performance. Before kicking off his headlining Restless Mind Tour in September, Barber has spent 2024 playing other headlining gigs as well as festival slots at Stagecoach, Railbird and Lollapalooza. And last year, he had the chance to learn from Ed Sheeran and Bruce Springsteen, both of whom Barber opened for on select dates.

"Ed wanted to show me that, no matter how large or big you are, people thinking you are just a good human being goes the longest way," Barber recalls. "It will get you as far as anything else."

Watching Sheeran perform was equally as impactful as his words of wisdom. "The way that he would go up on stage with just a guitar and completely control a crowd, the things he said and the emotion he could put out — everyone was dead silent, and it showed me that you don't need that much," Barber adds. "You just have to be a good person, [be] strong and know yourself. People see that."

Barber may rub elbows with big-name stars these days, but he says it's his family who truly fuels his creative fire. In fact, his late great-grandfather's musical history was what first inspired him to make music, and it was his mother who encouraged him to drop out of college in favor of pursuing music.

"My great-grandpa had played in bars and stuff," Barber says. "He had his old guitar in my parents' house, and that's what I picked up for the first time. I never got to meet him, unfortunately, but knowing that there was music in the family, it drove me."

He also calls his grandfather, who is still living, one of the "biggest supports and motivations" — and may be one of the biggest reasons Barber is wise beyond his years.

"He's the hardest working man I've ever met in my life," Barber adds. "He definitely showed me that anything is possible… He has nothing to do with music, but just seeing a man like that, it drives you every day. He's a wise man, holding a lot of very smart things and aspects to life that I would have never thought of without his encouragement."

As evidenced on "G-PA," Barber's grandfather may never have imagined all of this success for his grandson, either, but sometimes "straight and narrow" paths lead to unexpected places. Landing a hit with the first song you write is a dream come true for most aspiring artists — but for Barber, it's just the beginning.

2024 is the year that Tiera Kennedy never saw coming.

Last winter, the 26-year-old rising country artist was dropped from Big Machine Records. Then, in a twist of fate, Kennedy wound up working with Beyoncé on two songs months later and watched her first-time Spotify listens jump by 110 percent, inspiring her to fast-track the release of her debut album, Rooted.

"My relationship with God has strengthened so much because it has been a crazy year and not something anyone could ever dream up. It really feels like hard work has met opportunity," Kennedy tells GRAMMY.com. "It's easy to lose sight of who you are when you get a big team and there are a lot of different opinions going around. I was told that I wouldn't work, so I was determined to make them see that I will."

Kennedy started working on her aptly titled debut album while she was still signed to Big Machine, but it has since taken on a new meaning as her life has changed drastically over the past year. She's feeling more confident in herself and what she brings to country music, and she's unapologetic about it on the LP.

"The first time around, the album [was] more so about telling my story through these songs, and after leaving the label, Rooted became the actual definition of the word, which means to stand firm," she explains. "The overall sentiment of the album is: If you're not here for Tiera and all that I am, peace out."

The album's lead single, "I Ain't a Cowgirl," best represents Kennedy's hard-fought journey as she trades in self-doubt for an empowering message: "Gonna wrangle fear, cry my last tear/ And stare tomorrow right in the face/ There ain't a damn thing that's gonna stop me/ Gonna grab life by the reins," she sings in the second verse before declaring, "I ain't a cowgirl but I'm gonna be one today."

"I wasn't as vocal about the broken parts of life I was going through because I thought people would see that and not see confidence, but seeing how it affects people makes it worth it," she says. "I get so much more from telling my truth and being okay with not being perfect."

In a similar vein, one of the closing tracks, "Sweet Home Alabama" (not to be confused with Lynyrd Skynyrd's 1974 classic) honors Kennedy's Southern roots, but also explores the bittersweet feeling of outgrowing her hometown as she steps into her most fearless era yet. "I'd get lost if I headed South and I tried to find my way around/ 'Cause I'm out of touch with the place where I grew up/ And my roots just don't run as deep now," she sings in the opening verse.

"There's a stark difference between the person I am today and the person that I was when I was living in Alabama, so sometimes when I go home, I feel a little disconnected," says Kennedy, who has been in Nashville for eight years. "But it's also beautiful because I feel a connection to my younger self."

Elsewhere, melodramatic kiss-off songs "Keep Your Promises" and "You Don't Get It" would make Miranda Lambert proud, whereas "I'd Look Good In That Truck" and "Can't Help My Country" offer your typical country fare with warm lyrics about long talks on the front porch, magnolia flowers and being raised on the music of Charley Pride and Dolly Parton.

Kennedy is part of the latest wave of Black country stars — including Shaboozey, Tanner Adell and BRELAND, among many others — who have been challenging the concept of traditional country music and forcing the industry to get on board. Influenced by the R&B music she grew up with, Kennedy incorporates soulful vocal runs and blues-inspired guitar riffs into her sound — resulting in songs that both genuinely excite her and broaden her audience.

"I'm finally comfortable with not being straight down the middle country. When we would get into the writers' room, we would try to make it country enough so no one comes after us," Kennedy says. "But we let all that go with [Rooted] and the new music I'm writing. This music is the most vulnerable I've ever been because I didn't put myself in a box. I didn't put any perimeters around anything."

That newfound freedom shows up in one of her latest singles, "Cry" — which samples Justin Timberlake's Timbaland-produced "Cry Me a River" — as well as "Damn, If He Don't Love Me," which features "American Idol" season 6 winner and soulful pop star artist Jordin Sparks.

Kennedy is calling the shots like never before, but she's always stood firm in her dreams of becoming country music's next superstar. In high school, she taught herself to play guitar by watching YouTube videos, and performed at places like Chick-fil-A and Buffalo Wild Wings. She says she "started writing songs because of Taylor Swift," but mustering up the courage to perform them in a room full of strangers took a while.

"My mom would tell people that I sing and ask me to sing for them on the spot, and I was like, Absolutely not. I just wanted to write my songs," she recalls. "I got nervous every single time I  was on stage, but the more I wrote my own songs and the more I found my voice in each season I was in, the more confident I grew with showing that person on stage."

After high school, Kennedy attended the University of North Alabama on a full-ride scholarship, but spent more time honing her craft at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. In 2017, she convinced her parents to move to Nashville so she could pursue a career in country music, and she quit college after one year.

"I do not have one memory of my parents ever doubting me or being like, This may not work out," she says. "Even when I told them I wanted to do country music, they totally could've discouraged me since there's not a lot of people who look like me [in this genre], but they didn't. They made it a beautiful thing. They're like, Okay, this hasn't been done before, so let's do it."

Nearly two years after packing up her things and moving to Music City, a then-20-year-old Kennedy competed on the short-lived reality TV show "Real Country," where she met Shania Twain, who has since become one of her greatest mentors and champions. In a full-circle moment, just as Kennedy signed with Big Machine and her breakout song "Found It In You" was making waves, she honored Twain with a performance of her 1998 hit "From This Moment On" at the 15th Annual Academy of Country Music Honors in 2022. "Every time a moment like that comes along, I have to pinch myself," Kennedy says.

Fast forward two years later, and Kennedy is still pinching herself. She gets emotional when reflecting on this new season of her life. "When I attended the 2024 People's Choice Country Awards [in September], I sat right behind Little Big Town. I remember just looking around at everyone and thinking, I belong here," she shares.

That sense of belonging and confidence is now translating into her music, helping her create deeper connections with her growing fan base — and laying the groundwork for an exciting future.

"Our lives may look completely different, but we're all searching for love and community at the end of the day," she says. "I wasn't okay at one point, and I'm still not okay some days, but there is beauty on the other side. My eyes have opened up for the possibilities of what I can do going forward."

The annual GRAMMY Awards voting process this year kicks off Friday, Oct. 4, with First Round Voting for the 2025 GRAMMYs, a process that determines the nominees at the GRAMMY Awards each year. 

Voting Members of the Recording Academy, the organization behind the annual GRAMMY Awards, are able to cast their ballots for a variety of GRAMMY Categories to be awarded on Music's Biggest Night. The 2025 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 67th GRAMMY Awards, will be held Sunday, Feb. 2, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Nominations for the 2025 GRAMMYs will be announced Friday, Nov. 8, 2024, so it's essential to get involved from the beginning. 

Before First Round Voting for the 2025 GRAMMYs gets underway, hear from some of music’s leading artists and Recording Academy Voting Members, including Troye Sivan, Coco Jones, Will Smith, John Legend, and others, speak about the importance of GRAMMY voting this year and every year.

Learn more about the Recording Academy's membership process and requirements.

For more information about the 2025 GRAMMY Awards season, learn more about the annual GRAMMY Awards process; read our First Round Voting guide for the 2025 GRAMMYs; read about the key updates happening at the 2025 GRAMMYs; read our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section; view the official GRAMMY Awards Rules and Guidelines; and visit the GRAMMY Award Update Center for a list of real-time changes to the GRAMMY Awards process.

Read More: The Recording Academy Adds More Than 3,000 Women GRAMMY Voters Since 2019, Surpassing Its 2025 Membership Goal

Since releasing his explosive debut single, "Whiskey On You," in May 2022, there's been no question that rock music is a core influence for Nate Smith. The sizzling breakup anthem, aided by his gravelly snarl, climbed to the top of the Billboard and Mediabase country charts for two consecutive weeks by January 2023. Not only did the feat indicate that there's an audience hungry for more of his country-rock concoctions, but it also hinted that Smith was one of country music's brightest new stars.

The California native's follow-up single, "World On Fire," solidified just that, leading Billboard's Country Airplay chart for 10 weeks at the top of 2024, which ties Morgan Wallen for the longest run in the chart's history. And just a few months after he was awarded New Male Artist of the Year at the Academy Of Country Music Awards, Smith notched a history-making third multi-week Mediabase No. 1 with "Bulletproof," the lead single from his sophomore album, California Gold — proving that he shows no signs of slowing down.

The rest of the 16-song collection expands on the raw storytelling and guitar-driven sounds of his self-titled 2023 debut, unapologetically leaning even further into the sounds and stories that made him. Whether it's intoxicating head-bangers, tender love songs, heart-crushing ballads or an EDM-inspired moment or two, California Gold shows that Smith is just as impactful with a poignant downtempo moment as he is with the high-octane energy of his hit singles.

Ahead of the album's arrival, GRAMMY.com caught up with Smith to hear about his nostalgic rock influences, how he's evolved as an artist, and the most meaningful moments of his career thus far.

California Gold has a ton of rock influence in it, which was a shift we first heard on your Through the Smoke EP earlier this year. Can you explain how you got pointed down this path of rock-infused country?

It just sort of naturally happened. I don't think it's a good idea whenever you're like, "I'm going to try to go for this type of sound." I think you should really lean into your influences and what you like to hear.

I grew up with a lot of rock in the early 2000s and late '90s. I just loved pop rock a lot, like Lifehouse, Hoobastank, Linkin Park, and bands like that. I've always liked the epicness of it. I love emo a lot, too, like The Used and Story of the Year. All those bands and all those rock sounds had really catchy choruses. I just like the way that rock moves me, I like the way it makes me feel.

My music has always been really diverse. I play with a variety of sounds because I'm such a fan of music, but I'm not shying away from my rock side. I feel like this record unapologetically leans into it more. I would get a mix back from Lindsay Rimes, my producer, and I'd be like, "There's not enough guitar. It needs to be heavier." We would add and add, or re-work verses so that things made sense and hit hard. I was really involved in the production side of this album.

You've recorded two duets with pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne, both the remixed version of "Bulletproof" and a song on this album, "Can You Die From A Broken Heart." What has it been like to work with her?

We've become really good friends, but "Can You Die From A Broken Heart" was the first song that I sent to her. She was like, "I kind of want something more uptempo, but I like it." Eventually she decided to cut both songs.

The moment I heard this song, I loved it right away. The person I thought of first was Sam [Harris] from X Ambassadors, because he's got this growly, hoarse voice that I thought would sound really good on it. It didn't make sense for him at the time, but the more I listened to it, I was like, Wait a second. I think there should be a female on this song, and I think it should be Avril Lavigne. It was before I knew her at all, so we AIed her voice onto it, just to see what it would sound like. It was just a dream at that point. We sort of manifested it, but then my team sent it to her and she said yes.

Artists like HARDY, Jelly Roll, Koe Wetzel, and countless others have been going down this same country-rock road. Do you think that says anything about the genre these days or the relationship between the country and rock formats?

I think there's a lot of different sounds in country music right now. There's Red Dirt, Texas neotraditional kind of stuff, which is its own lane. Then there's this rock and country thing, which is people like me, Bailey Zimmerman, Corey Kent, Jelly Roll, and all these different artists. We all have our own kind of thing within that, and there's extremes and more moderate sides of that. There's also the trap, Morgan Wallen stuff, which has Graham Barham and Tucker Wetmore. I think the main thing is to not really think about what "lane" you want to be a part of, but to just lean into your own influence.

I definitely think that there's a movement happening with the rock thing, unintentionally and all at the same time. It kind of makes me wonder if the universe is pushing it in that direction. I don't really know, but it seems like, collectively, we're all thinking the same thing.

You've said that this album is like an evolution, not just of your craft but of you, too. Can you elaborate on that?

When you're making your first album, you're trying to make it as good as you can. You've had some of these songs for a long time and you're just doing your best, but you may compromise in certain ways. Like maybe I didn't really like that guitar part, but I was too afraid to speak up at that time. Or maybe I didn't like my vocal comp on a certain line, or maybe the song wasn't even right for me, but I did it because the team was excited.

With this project, it's an evolution of me as a person, because I've completely listened to everything that I felt convicted about while making this album. Whether it was my vocal parts, the way that the harmonies sounded, or when the delay hits on the vocal, I was so particular about everything with this record. It was really hard to pick the songs, too, because I wanted to make sure they were the right songs. We got a couple little Hail Marys at the end, because we wrote "Perfect," "Want Me Back" and "California Gold" the day before we did our final cut of everything.

It is an evolution, though, and it's really just more. I always say this on stage, but my rockier stuff — the songs like "Bulletproof," "World On Fire" and "Whiskey On You" — you're getting more of that with this album. With the ballads, they're way more heartbreaking, lyrically and melodically.

We're also stretching the sound. On songs like "Hurtless," you can almost picture yourself in a dusty Desperado looking for an oasis in the desert. There's just an evolution of the sound in here, and there's going to be more of that in the future within the next album. Like I said, I'm a fan of music and just love to explore it.

What does California Gold mean to you? Why was that the name that stuck out for this project?

I was talking to my friend Dana, who makes all my guitar straps, as well as straps for Mitchell Tenpenny, Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, and a bunch of people. She lives in California and I was just checking in on her. She said, "We finally got some rain, which is California gold, you know?" I just thought that was such a good name for an album and it just felt right.

I love that California's in there, which is where I'm from. Gold, obviously, can mean gold rush, but also people don't know the part of California that I'm from. They know the beach and LA. I'm from a small town called Paradise in Northern California, which is a rural community. There's farming all over and rednecks everywhere. It's a hard-working, blue collar, country community.

The song "California Gold" has a lot of easter eggs, like Honey Run River, which is where we would hang out and smoke Prime Times. It just makes me think of growing up. It's so nostalgic, and it's also an evolution of the sound of "Sleeve" and "Oil Spot" from the last record. Both of those songs have that open road, driving down the highway, nostalgia. I think every album is going to have to have one of those songs for me.

With everything you've accomplished in just a few short years, what comes to your mind when you look back at everything from your career thus far?

I don't really think about it that much. What I think about the most is living in the moment.

I'm thankful for all those things, like when I got New Male Artist of the Year [at the 2024 Academy of Country Music Awards], that was a very surreal moment. Knowing that the songs are connecting and getting No. 1s, I celebrate those moments. They're really awesome, but I don't dwell on them because my identity isn't in that.

My identity is in how I treat my neighbor and my team. For me, when we have those wins, I get to become a better resource for the people around me. I get to be a river and make sure that everyone's taken care and able to pay their bills. That's the true success for me, is that my team is taken care of.

My birthday was the first show of the Through the Smoke Tour in Portland. My whole family flew out and I was able to buy dinner for like 20 people at the table to celebrate. That, to me, is "making it." That's what I dwell on and that's what makes me feel successful.

My next question was going to be what are a few of those milestone moments that really stick out to you and enforce that feeling of "making it."

Those are the milestones. Having my family come out and being able to see everybody. My band is on salary now, which is a milestone for me. People heavily connecting to the songs in an emotional way is a milestone for me. They show up to shows, which is a milestone. I'm losing weight and taking care of my body. That's a milestone.

I know we still have a few months, but what are you looking forward to in 2025 — that you can tell us about, at least?

I will say we got a very, very big tour next year as direct support for a very big artist. It's someone that I love and look up to, and I just can't wait till we can announce that. Getting a direct support slot is a huge deal.

We will be going to the UK, which we're putting together right now, and we'll be going to Norway. I'm Norwegian, and I believe I have relatives there, so I've asked for three days to hang out there. We're gonna go see the world a little bit!

I've got some time off from December to the beginning of January. I've got a couple of shows in January and February, but I'm gonna write and record my next album. It's gonna be crazy, but I'm also gonna get some rest. I'm looking forward to the rest.