From portraying Elvis Presley in Walk the Line and garnering a cult following as musician Chris Keller on the CW hit TV show One Tree Hill, to writing and touring with the likes of Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum and Joe Cocker, Tyler Hilton has enjoyed an award-winning career spanning music, film and television.

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You’ve had such a diverse career from acting and music as well. Which one came first to you?

My family are musicians. I have been a musician since I was a kid. That’s always what I was going to do. I got cast in some movies and TV shows as a musician, so that started my whole acting career. I can’t imagine not doing it, it’s so fun. But who I am, whether I want to be or not, is a musician. My great grandparents, everyone in my family are musicians. It’s wild.

It’s such a different art when you’re practicing acting and music. How do you express those certain emotions when you’re doing music and acting?

Music is my blank slate. There’s no rules, I could do whatever I want. I’m totally in charge and I love that, but it’s also really nice to have parameters, limits, and boundaries. That’s what I love about acting. I like not being the boss. I like that there’s a director because for me, I have so many ideas that it’s relaxing when someone is helping me sift through them. “Don’t do this, do this, do more of that.” With music, I’m the writer and the director. I’m everything and I love that, but it’s also exhausting in its own way. It’s nice to be a boss in some things and it’s nice to be an employee in other things, both are really cool.

How do you deal with those mental blockages when you’re songwriting or trying to come up with a new song and album?

I rarely have a mental block with music. It’s just a matter of time if I have time to sit down and do it, it’s nonstop. It’s like a faucet and I’m grateful for that. I try to have a well balanced life. I have two kids and I like to act and I like to do other things. Sometimes I don’t feel like writing or it’s kind of boring to me, but it’s never because I can’t think of anything to write. The newest challenge I had is I always wanted to score a movie like where it’s all the orchestra stuff and no lyrics. My wife let me score her last movie. It’s called “My Old Ass” with Aubrey Plaza. So when I did the music for that, it was so easy and beautiful, but it’s great because it’s a whole different thing. You’re like watching the movie and then making music to fit in between what they’re saying.

Who were your biggest musical influences growing up?

Elvis Presley was the biggest for me because he did so many different types of music. So I got into gospel, blues, and country through him. I was really into Frank Sinatra, like sling music. I was pretty much into everything except what was hip, which was such a bummer because I felt so fucking lame. Everyone was into cool current rock and pop stuff and I wasn’t there yet.

When it comes to your process of creating the whole album concept and writing each song, what does that process look like for you?

It hasn’t really been like an album concept yet. I’ve just written a bunch of songs and then I choose which ones I like best for the album. And then I let it take shape as it takes shape. I’ve done it less top down where I’m like, “now I’m doing an album, I’m gonna write songs for the album.” It’s more like what songs are speaking to me and as they come together, I’m like, “oh, there you are album.”

Is there a particular song from your catalog that you feel especially proud of?

It’s kind of random but the song “Loaded Gun” that’s the song I played at the end of the One Tree Hill finale and the one I play live a lot. I’m so stoked that I got to do that song and people like it. It sounds kind of lame but it’s really just like a bonehead blues song. But I’m such a blues man at heart. Ever since I was a kid, I was so into blues music and I just wanted to do that so bad. People want me to do John Mayer music or this singer songwriter stuff. And so I do it but what I really want to do is blues music. Then I wrote this song, fans loved it and they put it on the finale of One Tree Hill and then I get to sing it every night. I don’t get to do a lot of blues music, but for a second, I just get to tap into that.

Many fans know you from your role as Chris Keller on One Tree Hill. How do you think that experience shaped your career?

Man, that introduced my music to a lot of people. I got to say, I think it was like a part of my personality that I think is funny but I would never do publicly. The fact that everyone liked it and thought it was funny definitely gives me permission to be funny and a dumb ass on stage because I know that they’ll be into it as opposed to everyone just being into my really serious songs and that was it. I’d be like “oh shit, I gotta keep it together on stage and be more serious.” But I get to joke around as much as I want because I know people are already into that Chris Keller vibe.

How do you balance your career and your personal life?

I’m always trying to figure that out. I mean, it took five years off the road to have kids and this is my first tour since then. So I was just talking about it today, “fuck, how long should I stay out next time? Have I stayed out too long this time? Is my daughter gonna be bummed? Or if they’re not bummed, is that a bummer? I’ve been touring for 20 years and I’ve only been a dad for four years so I’m trying to figure that out. It is like a part of me and I have to find a way to do it no matter what because there’s something about playing live for fans that I can’t get anywhere else.

What’s one thing that fans might be surprised to learn about you?

I wrote a children’s book that’s coming out in April and I’m working on a children’s record right now because my life is filled with kids books and kids songs. That’s all I sing at home and I play a lot of guitar with my daughter and read to her so much. So I think while they’re young I’m going to try to do a kids album and maybe another kids book after this one comes out too.

Are there any upcoming projects you’re excited about?

Right now I’m touring a lot until the children’s book comes out. I’m doing some press for that in the Spring, but until then it’s just a tour around the world like Australia, Europe, a lot of North America and since it’s my first time in five years, I’m just really trying to focus on that. Also promoting my wife’s movie because I did the Score Foot. So she and I did some promo for that this summer, but it’s such a good movie. You gotta check it.

Tyler Hilton is on tour! Find tickets to his shows here!

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