At the tender age of 15, Alex Hall has already started rubbing elbows with record executives in Nashville, Tenn., writing songs and spending enough time in the recording studio to cut his first album.

The Chestatee High School freshman has always been singing, but got more into music thanks to his middle school chorus director. After doing a few country music-styled solos at school concerts, Hall got bitten by the bug and started pursuing his own album. His first release is called "Look At Me Now," and is available at Music by Alex Hall.

Now, he's been to Nashville a few times and is working on his songwriting — a difficult thing when you're not even driving yet — and keeping his focus on a music career. You can catch him a couple of times a month at Pueblos restaurant in Gainesville; we caught up with Hall to talk about his songwriting, his style and what inspires him.

Question: What's your musical background?

Answer: I've been singing my whole life, but I really got into it my seventh-grade year. I just had a lot of guidance from ... my choral director in middle school.

Q: Do you have a favorite singer, or who do you admire?

A: I guess my main influence is Elvis Presley. I really just like his style of music and how he really takes the stage. Everything that he does, I guess.

Q: What's your songwriting process?

A: The songs that I do write — honestly, I don't write songs about a 15-year-old's life because I do not like that kind of music. But I guess (it's from) everyday lifestyle, whatever I feel or what I'm thinking about. I try to write that down on paper and I guess it comes into a song.

Q: Do you play any instruments?

A: I play guitar and sing.

Q: What do your parents think of all this?

A: They've been really supportive of the whole process. They were all 110 percent about what I wanted to do. (The album) has been a bunch of Christmas presents.