Premiere: Brett Eldredge's 'Illinois'

Brett Eldredge has known for years that he wanted to write a song about his home state and title an album after it.

"It's a part of who I am and always will be a major part of who I am, from the people that I grew up with there to the family values I learned there, the hard work I learned from that state," says the country singer, who premieres Illinois, the title track for his upcoming album, at Paste BN. "It shapes where this album goes and shows a lot of who I am, deep-rooted in family but also always looking for love and believing in love, fighting through the heartbreak and recognizing the heartbreak."

The album Illinois, Eldredge's second, will come out Sept. 11 on Atlantic Nashville.

Eldredge began writing the song by inviting Tom Douglas, who Eldredge calls "probably my favorite songwriter to ever live," to his hometown of Paris, Ill. Douglas, whose hits for other artists include Miranda Lambert's The House That Built Me and Lady Antebellum's I Run to You, drove from Nashville to meet Eldredge at the small town near the Indiana border and get a tour.

"He's such a poet that his wheels were turning the whole time, as we were going fishing on the banks of the same ponds and lakes I grew up fishing, walking around the town square, waving and saying hello to the same people I was saying hello to when I was a kid," Eldredge says. "He got to meet my family. I have a picture of him standing in front of the corn stalks, as they're way above his head. He was so fascinated by this little town in the middle of nowhere."

The two then wrote Illinois with Brad Crisler, another of Eldredge's favorite songwriters.

Eldredge, named the Country Music Association's 2014 new artist of the year, has had three consecutive No. 1 country hits. Lose My Mind, the first single from Illinois, is No. 11 on Paste BN's Country airplay chart. Eldredge was recently announced as one of seven judges for this year's Miss America competition.

"This album is me," Eldrege says, "and Illinois is a large part of who I am. You don't have to be from Illinois to relate to this album, though. It's about any town you're from, any place you're from. It always holds a special place in your heart. No matter how far you go, it's an anchor that holds your roots there. Your roots are always a big part of your life, and Illinois is a big part of my life."