Since I was a kid I just wanted to be in Nashville.
The older I get the more I can see How much he loved my mother and my brother and me And he did the best that he could And I only hope when I have my own family That everyday I see a little more of my father in me.
Being with my family is very important to me, and touring is very important to me, too, because it's who I am. It's what I do.
It's not the case of turning in a bunch of songs and recording the next month. I think you're looking for songs all year long and you're writing all year long.
Country seems to be finding a bigger audience. Certainly an audience out of the general country scene is finding me.
I've always been a pretty private, quiet kind of person and so I haven't had to change my life really at all, I don't think.
I make no apologies for being a huge fan of radio songs.
I think the industry is oblivious to the fact that most people listen to all kinds of stuff. I personally don't know of anyone who listens to only one genre of music. It's vanity because no one does.
I've never wanted to name an album from a song title if I could avoid it because I like it to be a body of work.
Take your records, take you freedom, take your memories, I dont need 'em. And take your cat, and leave my sweater, cause we've got nothing left to weather.
And now you've lost the only thing that ever made you feel alive.
Once we get into the groove, we're kind of like long-distance runners - that adrenalin kicks in for me and I just keep running - and I don't stop!
The world is getting so reality-driven these days. It seems to be accelerating exponentially. But it's a dangerous game for a lot of people.
I'm a little more comfortable in that role. I love being in the studio.
If I knew what I was doing, I'd be doing it right now. I would be the best damn poet, silver words out of my mouth. My words might not be magic, but they cut straight to the truth. So if you need a lover and a friend, baby, I'm in.
I'm grateful when anybody can start to have his or her limited perception of the genre open up a little bit. There's a lot of great music in the country genre that doesn't get heard because people say, 'Well, I don't like country.'
There are certain songs that are sacred. People want to hear them just as they are in their head; they don't want you messing around with them. And then there are some other songs, if they've been around a long time in our set list, that I think we can take some creative liberties with.
Red carpets are pretty unpredictable. You can go from one person asking you what you're wearing to the next person asking you about the situation in Haiti. It's the extreme juxtaposition, and some of the questions can throw me!
Sometimes I just cry at random stuff!
I tend to write better when I'm not touring.
My father's record collection was all country. That's how I was exposed to it.
It's something I've always loved doing. I'm not one of the artists who comes in and just does my bit. I'm there every second of every day. That's my hands-on situation.
Getting on the bus and touring was my life. And when that was not around, I felt myself a bit lost at times, because that was all I had.
