I'm an Australian, and when I grew up much of my influences were American - blues music and country music, all that sort of thing.
My fame came from my success as a country music singer.
I've been a fan of old country music, like Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline. I think I'm drawn to it because of the sense of sadness and sort of loss that a lot of good old country music has.
I listen to a lot of really old western and country music. There's a lot of cool stuff in there... all the heartbreak of the country darkness.
Only in country music can you compare an old pickup truck and an old guitar to your wife and turn it into a love song... Thank God for country music.
You know how country music stars get an extra 10 years on their life when they go to Branson? Like you're washed up, and you go to Branson, then you can last another 10 years. That's what bashing the media does.
I was obsessed with country music when I was a kid, and it's definitely had a huge influence on the way I write songs. I was always attracted to songs that had a brilliant pun or a clever turn of phrase, but came from a dark, bitter place. As a writer, I've always gravitated towards that feeling.
Country music is the song that speaks to the American condition. It's middle America. Eight out of 10 people. Maybe it's not the No. 1 choice, but they listen to country.
If I wasn't singing country music for a living, I was actually going to school to be a doctor.
Country music is still your grandpa's music, but it's also your daughter's music. It's getting bigger and better all the time and I'm glad to be a part of it.
God-dang-it, country music is my heart.
Country music is about new love and it's about old love.
People do look at it as an insult that I say I don't listen to country music, which cracks me up.
There's been a shift: Country music is popular music now. Every other genre wants to come over to our land.
My first memories of music were country music and Ronnie Milsap. Where I grew up, it was what you listened to. And anything else, you were somewhat out of place.
Most people don't know I grew up singing country music; that's what I sang right up until I did 'Idol.'
Baseball fans! Good lord! I feel like sports fans get mad at you easier than country music fans. It scares me. I'm glad that country fans don't get mad every time I mess up.
There's a new hit rock group or singer every five minutes, but with country music, you have one hit and those people love you forever.
Country music has to evolve in order to survive.
My influences in this world have always been Crazy Horse and Malcolm X, my overall influences. But I was influenced by rock n' roll, blues, and country music. I was influenced by singers.
I have my own definitions of success. And I have my own definitions of country music that, luckily, I share with more people than I realized before.
There are so many music genres competing against each other, but I feel like country music has always been a unified front.
I was tossed all over the place growing up, which I guess prepared me for the music business, but the one thing that has always been there, that has never ever left me, has been country music.
Kitty Wells was the first and only Queen of Country Music, no matter what they call the rest of us. She was a great inspiration to me as well as every other female singer in the country music business. In addition to being a wonderful asset to country music, she was a wonderful woman.
I grew up with the Highwaymen, which was Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. Mom and Dad rode rodeo, so country music was always in the house and the car. They threw in some Dolly Parton, too.
One of my favourite things about country music is that, at least until recently, you could always count on a solid story, a punchline and a pun. I think it has that in common with hip hop, where they're not afraid of wordplay and I really appreciate that.
If I wanted to be a pop singer, I would have done that 20 years ago. I love country music.
Everybody has their favorite sad songs. That's part of what I love so much about country music. Country music is never afraid to go with a sad song.
I'm always kind of surprised how much I'm associated with country music.
If you got in my truck, you were listening to country music, and that's the way it was for a long time. I'm a little more open to other sources of music now, a lot more. But for the formative years, I was just very into country.
I am probably the last of a generation able to gain an education in country music by osmosis, by sitting in a '64 Ford banging the buttons on the radio.
Taylor's first four albums have been certified platinum a combined 21 times, but despite her unprecedented success in country music, '1989' is strictly pop.
I do think I'm country, but your definition of that word might be different from my definition. In my opinion, country music, the sound of country, has always evolved. But the one thing that has not changed is the story element. And I think country songs are truthful songs about life written by country people.
I have such a deep love for traditional country music.
Country music, to me, is what I grew up on.
I've always been a fan of country music. It's America's music - I love the songs, love the lyrics.