I'm somebody who likes to gravitate toward people who aren't necessarily famous.
The only reason I wound up in Nashville and went to Belmont University is because that's where I needed to be.
My home town was really great to me. If you've ever watched 'The Andy Griffith Show,' it's like Mayberry.
There are phrases that are totally cliche that we, as songwriters, owe it to ourselves to not use again.
I'm a country musician. I know how to play jazz, and I can play rock. But I've had to fight my entire career to get a little respect from people who don't understand where I come from.
I'm not answering questions with my songs.
It's crazy how loyal country fans are. I can't say enough how much that means to me.
I try to write like the writers I admire - I rip them off in form. It comes from George Strait and Merle Haggard records, and country music in general is really good at that, the twisted phrase... So I'm always looking for that angle in my own work.
Deep down, I'm just a West Virginia hillbilly.
It comes down to building your own world out here on the road. It's who you surround yourself with. My band and crew are really positive guys.
With my guys and with the way that we live out there, we work out a lot and try to eat right, but we try to basically keep it our own rhythm and our own world.
Country music's always had the best musicians in any format of music, and I always gravitated toward that, stuff that was musically interesting.
I listen to the same things that a lot of my fans do, and I grew up in much the same way they're growing up.
Something about cactuses and rock music is a good combination.
I think if you ignore the generation after yours, you will be obsolete very quickly.
