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ENTERTAINMENT

Five questions with break out country musician Dylan Scott

Shelby Reynolds
Naples
Dylan Scott's "My Girl" hit No. 1 in September on Mediabase's Country Radio Airplay chart and Billboard's Country Airplay chart.

2017 was good to country musician Dylan Scott, and 2018 already seems to be off to a great start.

His hit "My Girl" reached platinum status, climbing to No. 1 on both Mediabase's Country Radio Airplay chart and Billboard's Country Airplay chart. "My Girl" was the year's seventh most played song, making Scott the second most played new country artist of the year.

He released a deluxe edition of his debut album, was named "About to Break" artist by iHeartRadio and AT&T, and he became a new father.

Scott, a Louisiana native, is now performing on Justin Moore's "Hell on a Highway" tour, which comes Thursday to Germain Arena, 11000 Everblades Parkway, in Estero. Tickets range from $27 to $47.

Ahead of his performance, Scott answered five questions about his rise to the top of the charts. 

Q: You’ve catapulted into stardom in the last year. What did it take to get to this point?

"Hard work and faith, and never giving up and believing it’s going to happen. There’s times I remember calling my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, and going 'I don’t know if this is going to work,' and she was cheering me on and believing in me. It's definitely putting your blinders on and going for it."

Q: Talk about the inspiration behind your hit “My Girl.” I understand it’s a pretty personal story.

"We were high school sweethearts; we dated since we were 15 years old. We were 19 or 20 and we we were going down the road and Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' came on the radio. She started rapping and she came over to my side of the cab. It was hot, you know, being 19, 20 years old. It just inspired me to write about all these things I see in my girl that nobody else is going to particularly see."

Break out country musician Dylan Scott will perform March 1 at Germain Arena on Justin Moore's "Hell on Highway" tour.

Q: How do you think the sort of traditional country sound is changing? Many of the tracks on your deluxe album have this sort of pop-rock sound. What inspires that?

"There’s some pop and hip hop influence on the album and there’s some stuff that’s really country, as well. I grew up listening to everything. I would listen to the country station and then switch over to hip-hop. It’s just like everything else, it’s like your car, your house, so you never know what’s going to be the next change and you hope to stay on top of it. At the end of the the day, though, it’s based on the lyric of the song."

Q: You’re a new father now. How has fatherhood been going? How do you think it will influence your song writing?

"It already has. I wrote my first daddy song a couple weeks ago. Everything’s different. Everyone told me once you have a baby it changes your world, but until you actually experience it and it definitely has."

Q: What can people expect from your show on Thursday?

"We come out with a high energy show, we just like to have a good time and entertain a crowd, we like to see people laugh and smile. That’s our goal every night."

Dylan Scott