Alex Guthrie’s transition to folk singer all started with one moment: the moment he happened to be watching a Travelers Insurance commercial that had a soundtrack of a Ray LaMontagne song.

“It was a spiritual awakening,” Guthrie said during a phone interview with the Pulse. “I am actually looking at one of his posters now. His music legit changed my life. I liked the sound of Americana and folk music, so I studied his albums like religion.”

His personal music studies during the past two years have taken the denim-wearing, folksy hipster across the Southeast, and it will soon bring him to Mayday Brewery to perform on Friday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m.

Guthrie, 21, creates music that is a mix of The Head and the Heart, John Mayer and The Wild Feathers. He started songwriting when he was 19, deciding to study the lyrics and beats of musicians he liked before he took a stab at it himself.

“I mapped out song structure,” Guthrie said. “I went and listened to similar artists to LaMontagne. I figured out which patterns I liked the most, and then I would just start rhyming my way into a song.”

Currently, the Georgia native is working on a full-length album that doesn’t have a finite deadline. As he’s been touring a lot this year, he’s been doing a lot of songwriting alongside his German shepherd mix, Darwin. But when he’s not stuck in a moving vehicle, he would rather find himself secluded in the mountains.

“The majority of songwriting happens when I’m camping,” he said. “There’s one mountain near my old apartment, and I would usually hike and throw my hammock on the top of the mountain and just write. I kind of just like the peace and serenity.”

Most of his music is inspired by his travels and the one-liners he taps into the notes section of his iPhone while driving down the highway. Some of his inspiration evolves around his trips to visit his brother in Costa Rica. And like most musicians, he attributes some of his songs to love simply gone wrong.

“A lot of them stem from the cliché breakups that everyone has to write about at some point,” Guthrie said. “But I try to be different. Everywhere I go, I try to listen to life stories, and that’s my preferred method.”

Singer/songwriter is also his preferred method for employment. He tried college for a semester; it wasn’t for him. He loved animals, so he worked as reptile breeder, a job offering him the opportunity to rehabilitate injured and ill snakes and other reptiles. But those skills didn’t showcase his musical talents.

“I had the plan of doing it the past year and half,” Guthrie said. “It didn’t become feasible until the past year. The past year I took on a new manager, and he’s done a really good job of keeping me on track. And with this help, we’ve had a better show schedule.”

For now, he is finishing his tour schedule, with Murfreesboro as the last stop. He’s applied to dozens of festivals so he can play more in 2015, and enlarge his fan base. He plans to stay around Atlanta, where the market for singer/songwriters isn’t as saturated as Nashville.

“Atlanta is awesome,” he said. “I have been to Nashville a handful of times. . . . Atlanta is easier to get a following. We have a loyal fan base.”

Guthrie is living his dream, striving for that ultimate combination of living on royalties and touring.

“As long as I can support myself, I’m going to find happiness.”

For more on Alex Guthrie, visit alexguthriemusic.com.