Nailing down a feeling: The mood of David Nail's music has changed since his first albums

KENNETT, Mo. -- The year 2014 was a busy, good one for Kennett native and country music star David Nail.

His third album, "I'm a Fire" released in March on the MCA Nashville label. Before that release, the first single, "Whatever She's Got," hit No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart and was certified platinum. The follow-up single, "Kiss You Tonight," is still on the charts. A third single will likely release next month.

And, as it has been since Nail's 2009 debut, with the release of his first album, "I'm About to Come Alive," his concert touring schedule was demanding.

But perhaps the most uplifting thing about last year for the Grammy-nominated artist is the happiness and peace he said he's found. His official biography sums things up this way:

"After scoring his first No. 1 single with 'Let it Rain,' from his 2011 second album, 'The Sound of a Million Dreams,' Nail spent an inordinate amount of time on tour, giving his entire being to country fans. He nearly burned himself out in the process, landing in a funk from which he found it difficult to emerge. But David prevailed, and he credits his revitalization to his wife of four years, Catherine. 'I have this newfound happiness, energy and enthusiasm about life. And the sole inspiration for why I wanted to get better, to change and to be different was her,' Nail said."

The new album has been lauded as more upbeat than the previous two, which spoke more of heartbreak, loss and other challenges in his life.

In person, Nail was a bit more frank about that funk.

"With the new record, I had just come through a difficult stretch in life. I was severely depressed, and I had this bottom-out moment. It was then that I forced myself to go and seek some help to figure out why I couldn't get out of this long funk," he said. "And, as I began to manage that, I began to ponder music in ways I hadn't thought about before ... and the kinds of songs I had never written before. When it comes to 'Whatever She's Got,' well ... five years ago, I never would have recorded a song like that. For one thing, it was entirely too happy, and that just wasn't where I was at."

Through his first two albums, Nail made a career singing sad, personal songs. And there are those in the music industry who question whether the departure of recording a more up-tempo album might take longtime fans by surprise.

"I have never wanted to not have a legitimate reason to sing the songs I sing. They have always explained how I felt. It's weird. I was so lost. Looking back at that music, I didn't realize how sad the songs were, or how depressing the music was, because they were identifiable with me. It was me. And I've always worked with people who encouraged me to be me."

When the positive media buzz around "Whatever She's Got" began, Nail said he initially got offended. That didn't last, however.

"It was so bizarre. People got so excited when they heard the record and heard about this transformation. But then, over the course of the year, people started asking me if I was ever going to go back to the sad stuff because they said it was really, really good," Nail chuckled. "I just said, 'OK, guys, which one do you want? Sad David or Happy David?'"

Nail said it wasn't a conscious decision to go more upbeat with the "I'm a Fire" album, but he admitted it was time for a change.

"I wanted to do something different. I was in a far, far better place. And 'Whatever She's Got' was the first song we found. So it served as the backbone and theme of the album. Every time we'd find a song, we'd put it up against it, not from the standpoint of whether it was as good as that, but rather: Do they sound good together if you put them back to back? You can't have this one song that's so far and away different than everything else on the album. Everything just kind of fell into place from there."

Nail's choir director at Kennett High School, Viretta Sexton, recalled one of the things most impressive about Nail was his ear.

"It's not that he could pick something up quickly just by hearing it. He just always had the exact sound he wanted in his head, even back in MOD Assembly days. He would hear others perform and get into the most minute details of what he wanted, because he was after such precision," she said.

Nail said he has a strong interest in producing.

"But the talent I don't have is the ability to convey how to make something sound a certain way. But I can tell very quickly if it is not what I want. A lot of people would tell you that might not be the greatest quality, from the standpoint of making music, especially with the talent of musicians here in Nashville.

"It's like writing a song. A lot of times, when writing one, that first line you come up with might not be word-for-word, how it's gonna be, when done. But if you only allowed yourself one crack at it, man, most of your songs wouldn't get very far. So, when you're making a record, you need to allow it to be a process and allow a musician to explore and play different things," Nail said. "They may play five parts, five different ways. And you may like the third one a lot. But if you say, 'Great, let's stop here,' then you miss out on four and five, and who knows if those ain't gonna be better?"

Nail said he had to learn patience in that way.

"Where we start is not necessarily close to where we finish. We just need to let things happen," he said.

Nail detailed how he came by his initial impatience with getting things right musically.

"Between Miss Sexton and my dad [longtime KHS band director Dennis Nail], I had two geniuses. My dad, I could play any song for him, and he'd learn it in five minutes. I had the idea, back then, that I needed it now, needed it to sound great now, because that had been my experience. I just expected everyone to be able to do that quickly. It wasn't until I got older and realized it wasn't realistic or fair to expect someone to play the greatest thing in the world the very first time.

"For example, take Chuck Leavell, arguably the greatest piano player of all time. In working with him on 'The Sound of a Million Dreams,' the very first time we ran that down, I remember how vanilla and uninteresting it sounded, and he's the greatest piano player of all time! It's moments like that when even the best need time to let things marinade before genius can come out," Nail said.

During the weeks leading up to the Kennett Crossroads concert, Nail said he's gotten into a reflective frame of mind.

"This is the first time I've ever done this type of show, and in front of a town where I'll know pretty much everyone in the audience. I'll have to figure out how to take all the stories I've told about my hometown over the years and make them more PG-rated," he laughed.

Nail acknowledged he can't stand listening to his own music.

"I'm a perfectionist, so it's all very personal to me, and it's hard to be objective and not be overly sensitive to the concept of putting it out there for everyone to critique. But I've done a lot of what I came here to do, and I still have tons of other stuff I hope to do one day.

"Also, I've developed a healthy sense of peace, knowing that I've been here for 15 years now. Even though I dropped out of college and have never had a real, traditional job, people do pay to come hear me sing songs that, in reality, if there were no crowds, there was no tour bus, or the shows or records, I'd still be singing and writing these songs if I worked at UPS. And even if the tour does get to be a grind sometimes, when you're washing your laundry in the hotel Laundromat for the third straight month, here's the glorious thing about what I've gotten to do for a living: I guarantee you that at least at some point, every single day I walk out to the bus, it'll feel like the first time I've ever walked up to one. Every time I get up on that stage, I will absolutely eventually get that goosebump feeling ... maybe in a song that takes me back to the first time I got on a stage."

Nail said debut stage was the one in the Kennett High School Auditorium.

"I felt that rush of the audience applauding, and I hoped I could hold them in the palm of my hand," he said.

Nail is considered one of the best vocalists in country music. Sexton called his voice wide-ranging, with impeccable tuning. Nail recounted how he transitioned from his choir days to the Music City scene.

"People ask me if I've ever had voice lessons, and I say, 'Well, if you consider being in junior high and high school choir taking voice lessons,'" he said. "The biggest thing Miss Sexton ever showed me, at a very young age ... and it's not always the case ... was that being in choir was cool, that singing was cool and that you're not going to be less of a man, or a guys' guy, if you sing in a choir. But it did take me a few years to segue from a classical to a contemporary style."

Nail said he is often asked who he tries to pattern himself around vocally.

"I've never really tried to sing like someone. But I've tried to sing as high as someone. I can remember singing to Vince Gill records. In fact, I still try to do this. But then, I have to say to myself, there's already been one Vince Gill. Nobody wants to hear a second one," he said.

"Once I realized I needed to sing my own way, as I really started working on the art of songwriting and began to tell my story in songs, my voice became the instrument to convey what I was trying to tell. I've never really understood what it is I do. With me and singing, I've always just closed my eyes and gone where the lyrics and emotions take me and, deep down, prayed that people dug it," he said.

Another thing Nail credits Sexton with is the advice she gave him in high school.

"The biggest thing she did was say, 'I don't think college is for you. You were born to be a singer, and you need to move to Nashville and pursue it 100 percent.' To hear that from a teacher, at a time and point in society where it was thought, if you don't get a college education, you can't succeed in life, it was really significant for me, and gave me the freedom and courage to really dive in."