Andy Grammer will play April 11 as part of Live @ Veishea.

Grammer is a pop-rock artist originally from Los Angeles, but he grew up about an hour north of New York City in Chester, N.Y. His father was a children’s singer, and Grammer himself began writing songs for girls while in high school.

He began his musical career as a street performer in Santa Monica, Calif.

“It was pretty awesome; there was this super hustle element to it,” Grammer said. “All you really wanna do is play for like eight hours, but you’re competing with so many weird people. I was in competition with a guy holding a snake around his neck.”

Grammer did not always want to be a singer, but that ended up coming with the territory.

“I knew that I loved singing, but first I wanted to be a writer,” Grammer said.

For his show at Veishea, Grammer has not yet decided on what he will play.

“I usually get to the venue and make it up on the spot,” Grammer said. “We make the set up as we go. We will probably play a couple of new ones too.”

Grammer writes all of his own music including his debut single “Keep Your Head Up,” which reached No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100.

“I love the process; it’s a weird process,” Grammer said. “You have to be daring and not afraid to look stupid to get something beautiful. Having something worth even saying is the hardest part.”

Grammer had another hit with his song “Fine by Me.” During the writing process for these songs, he had a feeling that they might be going somewhere.

“You usually have a sense that what you’re doing is pretty good,” Grammer said.

Since Grammer keeps the set list itself rather spontaneous, fans can expect anything during the actual performance. One known highlight will be the cover songs that he mixes in with his own music.

“I will be doing a couple of covers that you wouldn’t expect me to do,” Grammer said.

Grammer has played some shows in Iowa before, with the most recent being a show in Dubuque. His mother is originally from Iowa, giving Grammer a sense of home whenever he plays here.

“I have played in Iowa a bunch, probably around eight to 10 shows,” Grammer said. “It’s like my heartland.”

Right now, Grammer is only playing a select few dates while he finishes up his next album, but he will likely be doing a full tour at some point during the summer.

The upcoming album is set to be released at some point this year, but all details are still on the down low for the time being.

Grammer is a very new artist, but goals are still a large part of his career in the music industry.

“I just wanna continue to write really good songs,” Grammer said.