Brett Eldredge has scored the seventh Top 5 tune of his career with “The Long Way,” the second single from his self-titled 2017 album.

Brett says the mid-tempo tune, which he co-penned with Matt Rogers, was the catalyst for creating the new album, and he believes the song’s honesty is one of the reasons it has been connecting with fans.

“‘The Long Way’ kind of was the first song that I wrote for this record that I was like, ‘Ok, I’m gonna build a record around this kind of sound,’ and it opened me up a lot more than any other records and songs had,” says Brett to Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown. “So, when I got that, that was like, ‘Ok, I know exactly what I want to do.’ I played it for my manager and he was like, ‘You just sound way more honest in this stuff than anything I’ve heard.’ That kind of flipped my switch of how honest I could make the [record], and now it’s just taken off in that special way. Anytime you can be real and not be afraid to air out your life in music, its gonna connect with people that need to hear that.”

Brett is currently in the midst of his first major headlining tour—dubbed The Long Way Tour. The 11-date tour kicked off on April 5 in Garden City, Idaho, and makes stops in Louisville, Kansas City, Boston and more before capping in New York City on May 5.