NATHAN Carter, the cheeky-chappy accordian playing singer, entertainer, fast car driver and all-round nice guy, is politely sipping his too-hot soup in a Belfast hotel lobby while trying not to laugh at the same time.
I have just asked him, what with his sold-out gigs, chart-topping albums, women throwing underwear at him, Tom Jones-style – this is authenticated in a section of his new autobiography – if a performance has ever not gone to perfect plan in his charmed life thus far.
Tellingly, all he can think of is falling into a drum kit while trying to mount the stage for a concert in Lowestoft and having to listen to the audience do the long clap before he even reached the mic....
"Very embarrassing," he recalls, chuckling. "I don't think I put that in the autobiography, for some reason..."
Aah, the autobiography – that also makes him laugh, the very thought of it; an autobiography at his age, while still in his 20s, for goodness sake.
"When Penguin got in touch with me last year and asked if I was interested, I kind of laughed because I was only 27," he muses. "My initial response was, 'Sure, what am I going to write about?'
But, he was eventually persuaded and was in Belfast to talk about it: Nathan Carter: Born For The Road, My Story So Far. Written with the assistance of Co Tyrone writer Emma Heatherington, the hardback includes a behind-the-scenes gig diary and testimonials from some famous fans including Daniel O'Donnell, Fr Brian D'Arcy, Philomena Begley and reputed one-time love interest, Lisa McHugh.
"There's a lot of stuff that fans didn't know about, like how I started out, the clubs I played and the people I met along the way," says the Wagon Wheel hit-maker, who is well known for always making time for his fans.
"I love chatting to everyone," he says, good-naturedly. "The only time it does annoy me a bit is when people come and ask me to sign an autograph or something when I'm eating.
"The Temple Bar area in Dublin is one of my favourite places and it is now so full of tourists that the chances are no-one will recognise me. I love getting away from it all, although being a tourist is not something I get to do very often. I'm hoping, though, to get away to Tenerife or somewhere hot after spending Christmas in my new home outside Enniskillen."
And no-one could blame him because Nathan Carter has worked hard to be top dog in his niche section of the cut-throat music industry, releasing nine studio albums, three live albums and three live DVDs to date, while being credited with reinventing the Irish country music scene and bringing it jiving merrily into the mainstream.
Born in Liverpool in 1990 – his family is originally from Newry – the now proud Co Fermanagh home-owner was surrounded by traditional music from birth and, in the early chapters of his book, recounts how, as a "shy child", he still made a lot of noise with a tiny concertina, toy piano and cassette recorder which he sang into from a young age.
But, while charting the minutiae of Carter's life: his first "proper" accordion aged four; his first kiss ("a rushed, nervous event") with a red-haired girl at primary school (aged nine); promotion to school head chorister at 13 and being crowned singing champion at the All-Ireland Fleadh in 2005, the autobiography also touches on more negative experiences encountered in the industry as a young adult.
Financially, he says he "struggled" for a time, particularly when getting his band on the road, and also having to out-manoeuvre a few unnamed, not-so-nice people along the way.
But, if you're expecting a big expose, forget it; nice Nathan Carter doesn't do kiss 'n'tell.
"There have been people who have had a negative impact on me in the business, but I didn't want to give them the satisfaction of naming them in the book," says the entertainer, who now hosts his own show on RTÉ and this summer performed for Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families in Dublin.
Social media, too, has not always been his friend, but he recognises it as "part and parcel" of being in the public eye: "There are many keyboard warriors out there who say things online that they would never say to your face."
However, always standing in his corner is his much-loved – and almost equally famous – Nan, his number one fan from the outset.
"Quite simply, I wouldn't be here without her," Carter says. "Nan was the one who pushed me to get into music, the one who drove me to all the gigs. She still works with us now and when we're in Scotland over the next few weeks, she'll be there, helping out, selling the merchandise.
"She's 77 now, but when she comes on the road, she thinks she's one of us. We're going to America for a month – which I'm kind of dreading because it will be my longest stretch away from home and I'll have to do my washing in hotels – and Nan wanted to come too. We'll be taking 12 flights in two weeks, so I had to tell her it would be too much."
The travelling, he says, is even difficult for him, aged 28, and one of the reasons he stays famously single, but performing on stage seems an adequate substitute for love – for now, at least.
"Romance is still out there somewhere, but performing makes me feel the most free," says Carter, who is back in Belfast playing the Waterfront next March. "When I'm on stage, I get very emotional when I see people enjoying themselves through the music.
"But not all audiences react the same way – when we were in Germany recently, no-one clapped or stood up to dance and, half-way through, I was thinking, 'This is going really badly...
"Then, after the final note, there was silence before everyone stood up and started clapping. It was a moment of relief, as there's no better feeling for me than seeing people getting into the gig; for me, that's the best thing."
Although he says he will never be a dancer like brother Jake, winner of this year's RTÉ's Dancing With The Stars, Mr Carter snr still has mountains to conquer.
"I've never been one for dancing; I went to Irish dancing lessons as a kid and was sent home after the first lesson and they told me to stick to the music," he laughs. "That kind of stuck with me...
"Singing and song-writing is my passion and I would love to duet with Ed Sheeran some day – I loved the way he worked traditional music into Galway Girl.
"I suppose I've always been very ambitious and I do like buying things, especially fancy cars – even if I end up losing a lot of money on them – but, honestly, if I was still just doing gigs in pubs at weekends – if I had to go back to that tomorrow – I would still be happy."
:: Nathan Carter: Born For The Road is published by Penguin Ireland and is in the shops now.
