"'Never Give In' has become the mantra for our band, because we continue to slug it down here and do it our way from the people who told us that we shouldn't or we couldn't," Will Hoge said, speaking to a packed crowd at Brooklyn venue the Bell House Wednesday (Oct. 16). "A lot of it has to do it with you all. So it's dedicated to all of y'all this evening."

This sentiment was revealed multiple times throughout the concert, which was the kickoff date on his current tour. For instance, when he introduced one of his best-known songs, "Even If It Breaks Your Heart"�the Eli Young Band hit No. 1 with the song last year, and it went on to earn GRAMMY and ACM nominations�Hoge alluded to his struggling 15 years in music.

"If you want to follow your dream, you don't want to ask permission," he told the crowd. "It may take a long time. It may take five years, ten years, 15 years. You just don't know. You could be a long way from home." But the bottom line, he emphasized, was that "it's OK to continue to chase that dream."

And that he has. Hoge launched his career in the '90s, and since then he has toured with a wide range of artists, from John Mellencamp and Shinedown to Sugarland and ZZ Top. In addition, country artists like Dierks Bentley, Vince Gill, and Lady Antebellum call themselves fans.

Hoge's mix of country and rock has made it hard to put him into one genre, though as he told Radio.com during an interview on his tour bus before the show, that's something he likes.