The music business doesn't take up that much of my time. I probably should put a little more energy into it.

Hee Haw was probably my biggest exposure to live music at a young age, because there wasn't any live music around my town and no one in my family played instruments.

The older you are, I think you realize what you enjoy and what you don't need, what wears you out and what's important.

To me, songwriting is the backbone of Nashville. Looks can go, fads can go, but a good song lasts forever.

Tonight I'm the designated drinker.

I like to write sad songs. They're much easier to write and you get a lot more emotion into them. But people don't want to hear them as much. And radio definitely doesn't; they want that positive, uptempo thing.

I grew up with nothing, so whenever I got to where I could have something I felt like I needed to have everything I couldn't have when I was young.