I did some stupid things when I was younger, but I got a lot out of my system. Every time, my mom was waiting there with an 'I told you so.' Moms are usually right. You're wrong if you don't think that they've done what we're doing, because they have.
I grew up loving Etta James and Aretha Franklin and Al Green and Otis Redding, and I just love old-school R&B. It's just music that moves you and grooves you, and it was very important, I think, for music.
I started playing in New York when I was 16. I had a fake ID so I could play shows, and, I don't know, bouncers didn't really say no to me, I guess. I'm fun!
I think I write funny songs that make people kind of, like, stop what they're doing and be like, 'What did you say?' And then it makes them laugh a little bit.
I was 18, at art school, and saw this cute boy playing banjo. I was obsessed. I taught myself how to play. I listened to a lot of country and just messed around. The second song I wrote on the banjo was 'Good to Be a Man.' That what's got me signed.
My first name is a boy's name. It's Tanner. I've always gone by my middle name but, yeah, my first name is Tanner. And King is my mom's last name. I took my mom's last name since I was 18.
