It's safe to say that every heart in the J-14 office melted a little bit when sweet Southern Jimmy Robbins stopped by to play us his hit single "Turn it Up" and give girls a new reason to swoon with his album See Through Secrets (available now on iTunes). Find out what Jimmy thought about touring with Mitchel Musso, who people mistake him for, and more!
J-14: Let's go way back -- how did you become a musician?
Jimmy Robbins: When I was six or seven I found a guitar at my grandma's house and convinced my dad to let me take it home. For a few years I just kind of fiddled with it. My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's when I was seven, and she had been getting progressively sick. I didn't choose writing songs -- I just had stuff going on that I didn't talk about, so I started writing. It got to a point where I was like, wow, I can never not do this again!
J-14: Do you remember the first song you ever wrote?
Jimmy: I do! The first song I ever wrote was a love song for a girl. She never heard it, but I'm pretty sure it was terrible.
J-14: You grew up in North Carolina. When you're traveling, do you miss anything about the South?
Jimmy: The one thing that I do miss about the South is that I was raised to always hold the door open for people and just be really nice to people. Out here, I talk to cashiers and stuff everywhere I go and they seem really surprised -- and sometimes not excited. That's different!
J-14: So you're an old school Southern gentleman?
Jimmy: For my Dad's sake, I hope so. He would be upset if I wasn't. I'm still the guy that walks around and open's a girl's car door. And I guess that's not all that often that people do that, people are weirded out by that!
J14: What is it like touring with Mitchel Musso?
Jimmy: It's been great -- he has the coolest fans. They're all really nice and very excitable which is awesome. That's the best feeling when people are excited about what you're doing. Backstage gets pretty crazy because he has the acting as well, so there's a lot going on. Mitchel and I just hang out a lot -- it's been cool.
J14: What has been your weirdest fan experience since touring?
Jimmy: I think it's just weird that people care who I am. Sometimes people think I'm someone that I'm not in Los Angeles. Last week I got asked if I was Zac Efron three times. It's just like, "No, I'm not... I can pretend to be if you want a picture or something."
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Are you lovin' Jimmy's song "Turn It Up"? What do you think when a date opens the door for you? Dish with us below!
Photo: Courtesy of Universal Motown
