Mike Donehey, lead singer for Tenth Avenue North (GMA's reigning "New Artist of the Year") interviews new INO recording artist Jonny Diaz.
Mike Donehey (Tenth Avenue North): CCM listeners, this is Mike from Tenth Avenue North with the New Artist Spotlight. Today we are talking to Jonny Diaz (Di-as). Did I say that right Jonny?
Jonny Diaz: You got it right, man!
Mike: Di-az. What language is that?
Jonny: I always just tell people it's like, "You don't want to die ... as an old, lonely person."
Mike: What if I did wanna' die as an old, lonely person?
Jonny: That's a whole different interview. [Laughs] It used to be Dee-as about five or six generations ago. Then it was Americanized when it was brought over. So it's Di-as now. My whole life I've been fighting that battle, but at least it's unique.
Mike: Now is it any relation to the baseball player, Matt Diaz?
Jonny: He's my older brother.
Mike: Unbelievable! Who does he play for?
Jonny: The Atlanta Braves.
Mike: Are you a Braves fan? Do you guys fight about it?
Jonny: [Laughs] Actually, I grew up a Braves fan, so it works out really well. But if he gets traded, we might have some issues. Growing up in Florida, we didn't have any teams, so the Braves we always had on TBS. Now Florida has a couple teams, but back then they didn't. The Braves were always my team.
Mike: Where in Florida did you grow up?
Jonny: Lakeland, Florida. Right in the middle.
Mike: Did you enjoy living in Lakeland?
Jonny: You know, I don't think I fully appreciated it while I lived there, but now that I live here in Nashville, it's always fun to go home and see family and everything. But I couldn't wait to get out of there when I was in high school. I had that syndrome.
Mike: Everyone has that syndrome. Everyone in high school believes the place they live is the worst place on earth. [Laughs]
You're first single, "More Beautiful You,"… What prompted you to write it?
Jonny: I've been married about 18 months.
Mike: Me too!
Jonny: If you're like me, you probably have women totally figured out by this point—smooth sailing from here. [Laughs] That's not true. But if I have learned one thing from being married and from my wife, women, of all ages—but especially young women—have this desire to feel beautiful. I'm sure your wife feels the same way.
But as guys, I don't think we fully get that. We don't really understand all the pressures that go into that. We have our own issues, but that's not really something that's big for us. I still get to play a lot of camps and get to spend a lot of time with students, so I wrote "More Beautiful You" after being with a group of high school students and seeing these girls try to fit into a mold they were never created to fit into.
