A little dancing only helps the singing

“I’ve always been one to try new things,” he says during a recent phone interview. “I think with this album, I was taken out of my comfort zone and that has helped enable me to go out and try different things.”

DeGraw’s current album is “Sweeter,” which has spawned two hit singles – “Not Over You” and “Sweeter.” The album is DeGraw’s fourth and there were some collaborators this time around.

“This is really the first time that I’ve opened myself up to collaborating with other writers,” he says. “I hooked up with Ryan Tedder and wrote a couple songs for the album. It was intense to let my guard down and have someone come into my space and write. It was fun, and I’ll definitely do that in the future.”

As with his previous albums, DeGraw’s songs deal with relationships and love.

“This is the first album I’ve made where I felt ready to explore the more sexual side of my nature in my music,” he says. “It’s not only about my feelings of being in love, although I do tap into those elements on this album on songs like ‘Soldier’ and ‘You Know Where I’m At.’ This is the funkiest, sultriest record I’ve ever made. It satisfied a lot of things for me that I wanted to have satisfied musically.”

	Colbie Caillat With Gavin DeGraw WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 8 WHERE: Rio Grande Zoo, 903 10th SW HOW MUCH: $45 here.

DeGraw is currently on a co-headlining tour with Colbie Caillat and is finding that his profile has been raised by appearing on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”

“I didn’t realize the magnitude of the show,” he says. “I went out there, learned a dance and had fun. But what was amazing is that the show was watched by close to 20 million people. Some of these people knew my music and others didn’t. What the show did was put me out there as a personality. I have people coming up to me at airports now and they talk to me about the show.”

Although DeGraw was the fourth person eliminated from the show, he would do it all over again.

“Being a singer, I always wanted to take the time to learn how to dance. It was something I secretly wanted to do,” he says. “I learned a lot in my short time on the show. It was challenging and just gave me a different perspective.”

Aside from being on TV, DeGraw also is the mentor for the third annual “Kidz Star USA Talent Search,” which is sponsored by Kidz Bop. The contest is open to children 15 years and under.

“I’ve been able to get a chance to see these young kids do their thing and a lot of them are amazing,” he says. “I’m going to have a good time giving them advice.”

DeGraw says when he was younger, he saw Billy Joel on “Sesame Street” and it blew his mind.

“Here was an artist I really enjoyed and he was on TV,” he says. “It brought him to this level that I could understand. I’ve always wanted to give back like that and this was a great opportunity for me to do that.”