"Forever My Girl" isn't the first time Roe has tried to reach a wide American audience. "It's just because we grow up with American TV," he said. "Country is relatively simple as far as the chord structures, so you're not playing jazz chords."Īs for sounding like a Louisianian, Roe says it's relatively easy for Brits and Aussies to morph into Americans, though he said some have pointed out he sounds more Texan. I didn't realize how much I would love singing and playing the guitar, but now I know. "It was a lot of work as far as practicing to be able to create this sound, but within that work I ended up being really able to get into the character. I was listening to Chris Stapleton but I realized that I definitely couldn't sing like Chris Stapleton, so I kind of put that one to the side," he said with a laugh. "I'd listen to Brett Eldredge and I'd listen to Dierks Bentley. He began by listening to interviews with musicians as well as their music. That meant Roe, 27, who didn't know much about country music beyond Johnny Cash and Elvis, had to take a crash course in music, and accents. I had some kind of essence of a country singer. I don't know, maybe it's because I was into Elvis as a kid or something. "But they auditioned people from all over the country, and they auditioned people from England and Australia. "I think they were a little bit insane for letting this English guy who had never sung before play a country singer," said Alex Roe, the actor who became the film's unlikely star, during a recent Houston visit as part of a multicity tour promoting the film.