Since his debut in 2009, David Nail has made a career of singing songs that few artists dare touch in contemporary country music: sad songs.

He has had hits with singles about cheating (“Let It Rain”), breakups (“Red Light”) and failed dreams (“Turning Home”) and he has owned every one, singing as if from personal experience. David’s ability to make such tales of heartbreak and loss his own is what defines him as an artist—one capable of finding and recording songs that are deeply relatable to him and to listeners. And his cathartic new album I’m a Fire continues that trend, albeit with a series of decidedly upbeat songs that reflects David’s own happiness. The album’s 11 tracks, four of which were written by the Missouri native, captures for the first time, the energy of his live performance.

“It is a much more upbeat album than I’ve done in the past,” he says. David has taken that refreshed mindset and used it to shape his trail-blazing third album, I’m a Fire. If 2009’s I’m About to Come Alive was a snapshot of David grasping for the stars and The Sound of a Million Dreams captured him struggling with success, then I’m a Fire reflects an artist in control of his craft, a man fulfilled.