Andy Grammer's remarkable music career has taken him from strumming a guitar on Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif., to crafting multi-platinum pop hits in the recording studio. On this week's episode of the GRAMMY Museum's "Required Listening" podcast, the prolific singer/songwriter shared the biggest lesson he learned from performing on the streets for complete strangers.

Listen Now: "Required Listening" Episode With Andy Grammer

"The number one thing [I learned from busking] is the ability to just act without any guarantee of anything happening in return," said Grammer. "There's no greater place to do that every day than [on] the street because there's nobody there [to see] you. … It's a great muscle to build."

In a wide-ranging chat with GRAMMY Museum Executive Director/host Scott Goldman, the "Fresh Eyes" singer also shared how fatherhood and collaboration sparked the songwriting process for his latest album, The Good Parts, and why albums provide for a truer snapshot of a musician's art.

"One of the biggest benefits of writing with others is that it makes you write," said Grammer, who collaborated with songwriters Ian Kirkpatrick and Ross Golan, among others, on the new LP. "If you have a session on the books with somebody else, you're going to write a song that day. If you have a session by yourself, you might. That's just real."

Speaking of real, nothing can prepare you for the real emotions that hit you upon becoming a first-time parent. For Grammer, he channeled his feelings into "Always," an angelic tribute to his newborn daughter featured on The Good Parts.

"It definitely opens you up to a whole new area of life, which is fun to write about," said Grammer. "It's such a big thing that when you're able to distill it down to a line, it holds. When you say to your daughter, 'You and me will be always,' that's like a simple little line that means [so much]."

As far as the modern debate over releasing songs versus albums? Put Grammer down as "pro-album."

"With one song, you can get an idea," said Grammer. "With 12 songs you can get a real sense of where somebody is.

"As you go along creating art, you have a feeling of how you personally feel about it. And you go about the process of trying to get it out of yourself. And then [you] give it to [the fans]."

Subscribe To "Required Listening" And Listen Now At Apple Music