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“It’s funny how many people consider me a bad boy,” says Jake Owen by phone from Nashville. And if you judge him by his current single, “Eight Second Ride”, it’s easy to think that.

But Owen is much closer in temperament to the sweet, playful title cut off his sophomore album, Easy Does It.

If you hear him play those songs at WIRK’s First Annual Rib Round-Up Saturday at Cruzan Amphitheatre, you can make up your own mind.

Owen has been on a steady path to stardom since he released his first album in 2006. Starting with Me charted three Top 20 songs, and everyone wanted to know how to get Owen’s mega-white smile.

“I’m very fortunate that everything happened the way it did. I’m proud I won the (Academy of Country Music) Top New Male Vocalist, and I was nominated for a Grammy. A big year for me, and one I will always look back on and remember and be thankful for,” he says.

And 2010 is shaping up to be another banner year for the 28-year-old singer-songwriter from Vero Beach.

“I’m in a good spot. My shows are going well, attendance is great. Now we’re thinking about what song to put out as the next single. We want it to take my career to another level, and we want to make sure whatever that song is, it’s a song that can do that.”

He’s got a good track record. The first two songs off his sophomore album have done well, peaking at No. 2 and No. 10, on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

The first single, “Don’t Think I Can’t Love You”, which was inspired by his parents’ relationship, was his highest chart single to date and won Owen a Broadcast Music Inc. songwriter’s award. At the gala, he was surrounded by his heroes and peers, including Kris Kristofferson, who was named a BMI Icon.

“I had my dad there, and when I walked up to get my award, there was my dad, proud and smiling, and right over to the left of him was Kris Kristofferson, smiling and clapping, and I thought if I haven’t made it now, I don’t know what that feeling would be like,” he says. “Here I am standing in front of people that I really look up to and admire and they’re applauding for me.”

Hard work as a value

But despite this applause, Owen says he’s still working to “make it.”

“A lot of people, when they see your face on TV, they think you’ve made it, but I am so far from having made it!” he laughs. “Every single day I’m working so hard to keep this ball rolling in the right direction. It’s hard work, but I love what I do, so that makes it easy.”

Hard work is a value introduced by his parents, and tempered by the years he spent playing competitive golf.

“One of the reasons I’ve been able to do the things I’ve done, and have become the person I am, is because of the things that they instilled in me as a child. I think golfing helped, because it’s a solitary sport and you keep your own score. You can cheat if you want. My dad always used to say that to me: ‘Son, you can cheat if you want to but you’re cheating yourself.’ You have to face that.

“In music, it’s also a solitary activity. You can sit down and write your own songs, but in a round-about way you can cheat yourself about how hard you’re working. More than anything, you can’t become great at golf without working really hard at it. It doesn’t just come easy and neither does music.”

Lessons from golf

Sports also helped Owen develop another important quality: confidence.

“There’s a great book called Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect by (sports psychologist) Bob Rotella, and actually it carries over into life in general. It’s based upon being very confident and that’s true in music, too.

“But I don’t think golf is about being perfect, because you don’t hit every shot perfectly. You might hit one perfect and the next in the bunker and you’ve got to figure out how to get out of there and hit the next shot great. The same thing with music. Every day is going to be different: different circumstances, different venues, different crowds. You have learn to deal with that and keep your confidence. Some days I’m not going to be feeling well but I’ve got to get out there and pretend like I am. I learned that from golf.”

But some lessons were harder than others, and they weren’t all good.

The final cut, “Nothing Grows in Shadows”, deals with two sensitive, lesson-laden topics: school bullies and sideline coaches. The song has an incredible twist at the end: The kid who was bullied grows up to save the life of the bully’s mom when she gets cancer.

“The song was pitched to me by a friend and I remember hearing the part about all you fathers sitting in the bleachers yelling at your kid. My dad did that. He never meant any harm by it. He wanted my brother and me to do well. He’s a great father, but I remember being up to bat and hearing my dad over my shoulder, ‘Keep your head down!’ It’s very hard for a kid to blossom into who they truly should become when they’re always in the shadow of their fathers or mothers.

“I sing a lot of songs that are fun, and some that are kind of philosophical, but that song really hit home for me, especially because my mom had a heart attack a couple years ago.”

The song ends with bagpipes playing the melody. Bagpipes, he says, have always represented timelessness to him.

Living in the moment

Among the best songs on the album is a cautionary tale about living in the moment.

“‘Green Bananas’ is about a buddy of mine, an older guy I grew up fishing with when I was about 13, and he was probably 50. He had a friend that passed away when they were younger and he always said that, ‘Don’t buy green bananas,’ and the guy named his boat after it,” he says. “It’s a great message. I think it hits home for a lot of people.”

As much as he may try to live in the moment, Owen says there’s a lot in the future .

“Now I’m looking for songs for a third record, and I’m excited about that. And I’m looking forward to getting back down to Florida for some of that nice weather,” he says. “We’ve had snow on the ground in Nashville forever.”

What: WIRK Rib Round Up featuring Jake Owen, Billy Currington, Luke Bryan, Darryl Worley, Josh Gracin and newcomer Josh Thompson

When: 12:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Cruzan Amphitheatre, 601 Sansbury Way, suburban West Palm Beach

Tickets: $20 in advance, reserved seats or lawn, at ticketmaster.com or the National City Box Office. $25 day of show.

Call: (800) 745-3000