Jason Castro On 'Only A Mountain'

The title track off the third album of Jason Castro, 25, Only a Mountain, released on Jan. 15, came from an idea from one of Castro’s longtime co-writers. “I just love the message,” Castro told Uinterview exclusively. “I think that always is the challenge as a songwriter to try to say something new, or trying to say something in a way no one’s heard before."

That challenge has always appealed to Castro. Born in Dallas and raised in nearby Rowlett, Tex., Castro grew up playing the drums and taught himself how to play the guitar while attending college at Texas A&M University. Before auditioning for American Idol, Castro had had no formal voice training. Despite this, Castro finished in the final four of the seventh season of American Idol in 2008. Two years later, his self-titled debut album peaked at 18 on the Billboard charts.

Castro has also found success in his personal life as well. He married his girlfriend of a year and a half Mandy Mayhall in 2010 and the following year had a daughter, Madeline. So it’s fitting that the title track off his new album is the first single. “I feel like it really sums up a lot of [what] the last years of my life has been about, and the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that all the struggles pay off, all the things that I think are such big deals in the moment, they really aren’t in the big scheme of things, and that’s the biggest thing I’ve taken away in these last few years,” he said.