You know, traditional country music is something that's going to be around forever.
Country music fans are extremely supportive. Once they're with you, they're with you for life.
What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.
I really like Alan Jackson, in Country Music. I think he's really very, very talented along with George Jones, and Merle Haggard, the same old favorites.
One of the things that I think is such a constant in country music is that the song is so much a story. I believe it is supposed to be based around a story.
Until MTV, television had not been a huge influence on music. To compete with MTV, the country music moguls felt they had to appeal to the same young audience and do it the way MTV did.
I think there are a lot of artists that are very traditional. I think someone can be a fan of someone like Josh Turner and then turn around and be a big fan of someone like Taylor Swift because, at the end of the day, it's all about those songs. I feel like country music has the best songwriting and the best songs of any genre.
Social topics may hit too close to home for people, but then again, if you pull a heartstring, then that's what country music is. It's not just songs about getting drunk and leaving your girl.
New country music comprises about five percent of what I hear per year. I enjoy it, but I don't really take note of who's singing it or writing it.
The passion for doing music, the passion that I have for going out and playing it live - my love for country music is back.
In country music the lyric is important and the melodies get a little more complex all the time, and you hear marvelous new singers who are interested in writing and interpreting a lyric and in all form of popular music.
A lot of my fans, and a lot of country music fans, they still wear boots.
I expect to make a career out of country music.
Television made a lot of difference in country music. It's progress. I believe in progress.
We're trying to do the thing you don't expect out of country music. Which is to say, 'Go see the world.'
To me, country music is like the blues, but it's something very hip and - I don't want to say commercial - but it's very worldly and good listening.
I'm treating country music like it's a sport. I'm looking at where my competition is and realized I needed to work on my songwriting.
As a little kid I had a girlfriend, and her boyfriend used to beat me up, so then I used to sing these songs, and that's what it's all about. Country music is all about your heart and your people and things like that.
Guys like me and Ray Charles, when we was coming up through our days, country music and soul music was just a very thin line between the two.
Country music is the people's music. It just speaks about real life and about truth and it tells things how they really are.
I never gave up on country music because I knew what I was doing was not that bad.
I really truly believe I found my identity with country music.
I don't limit my taste. There's some jazz that I like and there's some opera. I've been listening to what was essentially country music, but it crossed over to rock.
It is not that I don't like contemporary country music because I do. I love it. I have recorded a lot and have had great success recording records that have not been very traditional country records.
I think the people who are sitting in their living room doing those, 'Let's take country music back' blogs and all that stuff, that's crazy to me. No one's saying that about rock & roll, and no one sounded like the Beatles since 1960. No one says that about R&B, and no one sounded like the Commodores since 1970.
When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of being a country music singer, but I never dreamed I'd be a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Plus I love Tanya Tucker and I love country music.
There's a great enthusiasm for good country music all over the world.
When I was 3 years old, I was playing banjo on a country music TV show.
Well, more than me saying to the rest of the country music industry there is not enough traditional country music - that is not necessarily the statement in truth. I think more so that I, me, missed it more than anything else.
In country music, there are certain female artists, like Gretchen Wilson, where you're going to find lesbians because they're responding to that more aggressive side.
I have always been infatuated with country music. Country music tells stories, and I've always loved to tell stories. I said that when I establish myself as an artist that can do pretty much anything I want to do in music, I'm going to make a country album.
With Rascal Flatts, I'm such a fan of them, and I feel like they've been so gracefully relevant through decades of country music.
I think it's a natural fit, major league baseball and country music.
I think there's enough room in country music for everybody.
I love being a part of country music. I love going out and... doing things for the first time for country music. I always enjoy that.