Fast forward now to 2014 where we are once again sitting at a tiny table at the MGM Grand Resort. However, we are now both drinking our favorite Starbucks beverages and I am one of many journalists Will is working with on press junket day for the 2014 ACM Awards in Las Vegas. I'm hoping to encounter the same Will Hoge I interviewed so long ago. I am pleasantly surprised even with the last few years of success within the country music world not only is Will the same guy both personally and musically I remember, but also has the memory of a steel trap when it comes to events and times we have hung out over these last nine years.

It's been twelve years since Will Hoge released his first album. Some listeners and reviewers will say Hoge is rock, others say he is more country. With the Fall 2013 release of "Never Give In" classification lines of genre become very blurry. It is impossible to pigeon-hole this CD. Hoge's writing has gotten stronger over the years. There is no conscious decision to fall into one genre or another from the start with the release of his very first album.

"I do not feel it is or ever has been a conscious decision from the start of how I sound. From the very first record 12 years ago at Atlantic Records it was too Country for Rock. On Music Row in Nashville it was too Rock for Country. A logical person would have picked one of the two and defined themselves to have more commercial success. But that isn't what I do. It just sounds that way naturally, and I wasn't going to change it and be damned by what it was that I did," Hoge notes. He also credits his dad introducing him to rock music and growing up in Nashville for the marriage of his sound. As he sees the industry now over the last 10 years Country has become more Rock, so now his music fits in somewhere within the mix.

Will Hoge has always exceeded in storytelling, "Never Give In" is an evolution in songwriting in humble and simple form. "There is a tendency as a songwriter to be verbose and say as much as you can," Hoge says. "Some of that comes as a younger songwriter, because you have so much to get out and you haven't written many songs. But now, having made nine albums, and written a ton of songs in and around town for different people, part of the fun for me is to try to write as minimally and as simply as possible. I want to get more direct with each record and lyrically trim the fat."

Now Hoge is doing double duty. He is touring in support on the current success of "Never Give In" as a headliner and opener for such acts as Dierks Bentley, John Mellencamp, Pistol Annies, Shinedown, Sugarland and ZZ Top. But over the last few years finding and developing a successful career as well in demand songwriter for other artists in Nashville.

This brings us to our tiny table talking "shop" once again. Will Hoge is now become a veteran of this award show hoopla, red carpet, press junket circuit this being his second award season. Hoge co-wrote with Eric Paslay the #1 platinum selling smash hit "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" for The Eli Young Band. The enormous success of that song garnered Hoge nominations for the 2013 GRAMMY Country Song of the Year, 2013 ACM Song of the Year and 2012 CMA Song of the Year. Lady Antebellum also chose to record Hoge's "Better Off Now (That You're Gone)" as a track for their #1 album Golden.

Getting comfortable writing for other artists as well as co-writing is a learning process and experience Hoge is enjoying. He admits there are songs he can write for himself and his albums where can be completely free to approach any subject and write knowing they will only end up on a Will Hoge album. There are other songs he writes in which he knows he may not necessarily sing himself but would be a good fit for another artist to record. Some of Hoge's favorite songs have been co-writes such as "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" with Eric Paslay. "It's an incredibly personal song about my years growing up. But some of that (subject matter) wouldn't have even been started if I hadn't written with Eric. Sometimes just in conversation with a co-writer a song idea comes up that might never have happened if I was writing alone."

Awards Season affords Hoge the opportunity to reconnect with his peers where those conversations start about possibilities of writing together on future projects, touring etc. Especially the vibe of the ACM where it's almost a family reunion feel where everyone is catching up, passing each other in the casino on the way to press, Starbucks, lunch, rehearsals, etc. Everyone is in one place at the same time, the chance to bypass all technology and talk face to face about music.

Since the first Will Hoge album release 12 years ago, never compromising or walking away from the standards he holds his own music to, and now commercial success on many levels Will Hoge can enjoy some of those Ah-Ha moments. Of course the immense success and award nods for "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" is a huge deal as a writer. However, being a kid from Nashville The Grand Ole Opry is the pinnacle of making it. As I found out Hoge listened to the Opry growing up, but never actually went. To be asked to play The Grand Ole Opry is probably the biggest Ah-Ha moment to date. As Hoge recalls, "The first time seeing The Grand Ole Opry live was when I played it. My wife, kids, parents were all there. Every time I go back it gets cooler and cooler. My dad's a photographer and he took this black & white picture backstage of me waiting to go on. You see my boys lying on the floor on their stomachs, I'm standing there with my guitar, you can somewhat see the stage, and then the theater opens up behind it. They (my boys) are going to get to look back years from now and say they got to grow up fringe members of that Opry Family."

12 years have passed and yes, Will Hoge is still and even more of talented singer songwriter. He is still witty, unapologetic and uncompromising, humble and honest. The only difference is now the masses have the pleasure of experiencing Will Hoge through his writing for other artists as well as his success with his own band. There are those people where success only makes them a better person and strive to do better at their craft. One of those people is Will Hoge.