Everybody should have their own thing, and if he don't want to be a role model, that should be up to him. In the right situations, I can try to help and be a role model, but I'm still gonna speak my mind, and if that affects the role-model deal, then too bad.
The Iraq War has thrown such a heavy shadow on Afghanistan that you can't hardly get any news about that now. I went to Afghanistan this year and spent more time there than I did in Iraq ... just 'cause they were forgotten about, and I wanted them to know that I appreciated it.
I don't give a bleep if gays get married. That's just a contract, and that's between them and God. That ain't up to me to play God on that.
If I hear a conversation and somebody says something intriguing, my first thought is, Is that a song? I write all year long, and at the end of the year I pull these forty or fifty things out and say which of these things do I want to record.
I agree: Americans can be very apathetic. We're not proactive. We sit and watch TV.
I feel an obligation to those people who are willing to go lay their lives on the line. These are the same people that when we call on them, and we 100 percent agree as a country ... in our lifetime there's gonna be an event take place ... just like when 9/11 happened, everybody wanted to bring them to justice. When we called on the troops, they went in.
I want people raising my kid that see along the same lines of values and issues as I do.
That's more along what the story is, as opposed to me being onstage singing.
When I came to DreamWorks, I was in bad trouble. They were in bad trouble. They were millions of dollars in the hole and a few days from closing their doors. I was on my last leg.
... I like the clubs because ... we have two or three acoustic guitars up there and we're not hard-core slamming or stomping through the music. We're singing it with intricate harmonies and really showing the craftsmanship.
I get more respect from rap artists than I do from my own industry. I don't always write the kind of music that country executives want. Rappers are like that too .. my words come from the street, and their words come from the street. That slicked-up pop stuff doesn't come from the street, it's all pre-fab.
I'm not the kind of man that holds out on a need for nothing. I'm as lonely as any man around, I just don't like to pick 'em up and lay 'em down.
My mom taught us the Serenity Prayer at a young age.
A little blue-eyed blonde in a red hot sweater, wants to spice my chili, I think I'll let her.
When I go in and vote, I vote for the person I think will get the job done.I don't vote right-left.
I'm not a political guy. I've been a Democrat my whole life, but that didn't mean I went in and just pulled the Democratic ticket.
My fans have been very loyal to me, so I want 'em into the mix every song. I don't want 'em having breaks on stuff I'm trying to push on them.
Through the years I've accumulated this big bag of songs. When I go out I do close to two hours, and it's all just attitude - and up-tempo. I've accumulated so many of those types of songs now that the show just gets off with a bang, and I'll only do two or three ballads the whole show.
My deal will always be one solo performance-nominated or not. Not some thrown together rock tribute.
In the years that Ive seen concerts, when Ive paid to see somebody I want to see, there would be a certain amount of songs Id want to hear. So whether its stuff I want to play every night or not - or stuff Ive been playing for years or stuff you get tired of playing - you have to play what people pay for and make it fair for them.
There's a band of studio session - hot players - that play on my albums... They're an eclectic bunch of misfits that I've worked with for years and years.
