For Jimmie Allen, what makes a country artist isn't how many fiddles and mandolins they have in a song. It's something more natural than that.

Transcript

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Today, we bring you the third story in our series about first time Grammy nominees. It begins on a recent Wednesday morning at the Tusculum Strike & Spare bowling alley in Nashville.

(SOUNDBITE OF BOWLING PINS FALLING)

CHANG: The doors had just opened for the day when one of the regulars walks right in.

JIMMIE ALLEN: Hey. I'm not the only thing in here this morning with some color.

(LAUGHTER)

CHANG: Country artist Jimmie Allen. He's wearing a bright tie-dye sweatshirt, backwards cap. He's got his bowling ball and shoes in tow.

ALLEN: Same thing. It's routine. I get a large Dr. Pepper, come in, start bowling forever. I get a cup, some napkins so I could spit in it.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GET COUNTRY")

ALLEN: (Singing) Oh, yeah, boys.

CHANG: Allen is up for best new artist at this year's Grammys. He's the only country singer in the category. Country music for him was something he lived off of growing up.

ALLEN: Country music is all my father listened to, like, nothing else. Like, one time we stopped at a store. My dad went inside. We stopped at a gas station called Bodie's (ph). He went in there a couple of times to get some cigarettes. I'd change the station. He said, let me tell you something, Jim. You touch my radio again, you're going to drive this whole ride home with me hanging you out the window.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GET COUNTRY")

ALLEN: (Singing) Yeah, you gonna (ph) love it. Got to get up, get out and get country.

CHANG: Allen is based in Nashville now, but his hometown is tiny Milton, Del.

ALLEN: Milton is this little redneck town. We're surrounded by chicken plants, soybean fields, farms. We used to grocery shop at King Cole's farm because nobody in my entire house or my neighbor that lived next to me, in front of me or behind me, nobody listened to pop, rock, hip-hop or nothing. So, like, I would learn other genres of music at school when people were playing them in their Walkmans. That's back when you had Walkmans with the tape. That was even before CDs came out. So that's kind of how I learned.

CHANG: I remember those days.

ALLEN: Yeah, the good ole days.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FREEDOM WAS A HIGHWAY")

ALLEN: (Singing) The road no one was on.

CHANG: Well, you know, one of your hit songs is a collaboration with Brad Paisley. It's called "Freedom Was A Highway." And in it, you sing, I wish I could go back to those days when the town was the whole world and the love was the girl next door.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FREEDOM WAS A HIGHWAY")

ALLEN: (Singing) When the town was the whole world, and love was the girl next door.

CHANG: Were you writing about your town?

ALLEN: Yes, actually, I was. Everything that I write, I somehow tie it back into who I am and how I grew up. I didn't know much existed outside of Milton. You know, that was literally my whole world. And everybody at some point had a crush on one of their neighbors. You know what I mean? So it's kind of just taking you back to simpler times.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FREEDOM WAS A HIGHWAY")

ALLEN: (Singing) When you're 17 and driving, you don't think about the road running out. No, no, no, no.

What makes a country artist a country artist, it ain't about how many fiddles or mandolins you got in your song. Is that you're a country woman or a country boy.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FREEDOM WAS A HIGHWAY")

ALLEN: (Singing) Yeah.

I've seen artists - like, there's this white artist I know. He ain't country at all. He threw a cowboy hat on, some boots. Nobody questioned it, you know. But me, when I came here, like, I had to prove how country I was. Everybody was asking me, well, where are you from? What's Milton like? Well, show us pictures. Show you pictures? What are you talking about? Do you really know country? What? Like, do you ask everybody this?

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOME SWEET HOMETOWN")

ALLEN: (Singing) It's home sweet hometown, where you keep your first sins, your amens...

CHANG: You said that growing up, you didn't even think at one point it was worth trying to break into the country music industry because almost all the stars are white. So how difficult would you say it has been to make it in this industry as a Black artist?

ALLEN: I'll say this. You know, a lot of times I see it where I have to work twice as hard to get half the reward. I had this one guy tell me straight up. He's like, Jimmy, I like you, but I'm not sure how someone that looks like you will go over well on country music. And I'm like, bro, you got Charley Pride. And this was before Darius came over.

CHANG: You mean Darius Rucker?

ALLEN: Yeah, yeah. Darius Rucker. The only Black person in country music was Charley Pride.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KISS AN ANGEL GOOD MORNING")

CHARLEY PRIDE: (Singing) You've got to kiss an angel good morning and let her know you think about her when you're gone.

ALLEN: But overall, the country music industry has been great to me. The country music fans have been great to me. You know, we're - we wouldn't have had this conversation, you know, if they weren't.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHY THINGS HAPPEN")

PRIDE: (Singing) How a child that's just been named can then be pulled from the arms of a mother. Or a cross on the side of a two-lane road holds the memory of somebody's brother.

ALLEN: (Singing) You try not to question God and his judgment, but damn it, I don't understand.

CHANG: Now that you have reached this level of recognition, do you feel a greater pressure as a Black country musician to represent Black Americans, to reach Black Americans through your music, through your work?

ALLEN: I wouldn't say I feel pressure because it's something I've wanted to do since the beginning. My dad told me years ago. He said, man, you have a responsibility to not only inspire other people of color and show them that they can do country music, but you have a responsibility to show the people that believe that people of color shouldn't do country music that we can.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOY GETS A TRUCK")

ALLEN: (Singing) Yeah.

CHANG: All right. So outside of country music, I know that you have your own production company. You've written a children's book. You were the executive music producer on the Netflix series "Titletown High." What else is on your to-do list?

ALLEN: You know, well, there's some things outside of entertainment company. I have a transportation company where we haul dirt and gravel. I own a septic company. I want to go on Broadway bad. And I want to play Aaron Burr in "Hamilton."

CHANG: Oh, my God. Wow.

ALLEN: I actually want to be - get into WWE wrestling. I was actually talking to The Miz. And - because I'm a huge wrestling fan.

CHANG: All right. What would be your wrestling name?

ALLEN: I don't know. But I would want to be a bad guy, though.

CHANG: (Laughter).

ALLEN: But a bad guy that loves love. So my finishing move would be the death snuggle.

(LAUGHTER)

ALLEN: I think my name would probably be Tombstone. Tombstone might be my name.

CHANG: Tombstone. He'll suffocate you with love.

ALLEN: Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BOY GETS A TRUCK")

ALLEN: (Singing) Boy gets a truck. Yeah, boy gets a truck.

CHANG: Well, given all the success that you've had just in the last couple of years, what does this Grammy nomination mean to you?

ALLEN: It means a lot. Well, first off, to be nominated in an all-genre category and be the only country artist is like, wow. And then for me, you know, I have to talk to my buddy. He's one of the biggest pop producers right now. He's like, Jimmie, think about this. You are a Black guy nominated for a Grammy, not because of your success in hip-hop and R&B or pop, but because of your success in country music. He said that right there is inspiring so many people. And I was like, wow. I'm super thankful for it. It lets me continue to shine a light on a genre of music that is for everyone.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOOD TIMES ROLL")

ALLEN: (Singing) Spit mud through the tires of my F-150. Yeah, crank that truck up. Load it up. A few folks in my 4x4. Seat laid back, cold six-pack, window cracked. I got the good fire rolled. Tennessee to Atlanta, cross the street to Alabama. Yelling out the window, roll Tide roll. Cutting through to Mississippi... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.