Unless you're a true prodigy, you're going to have to practice for a while being bad before you get any good. And it will seem like a waste of time. I remember that feeling well. But don't worry about wasting time, because it'll be so worth it. It's my experience that in the end, life lessons and guitar lessons begin to blur in all sorts of interesting ways.

When Ray Flacke came out, it was like 'What in the heck is this?' ... there's a guy who had that Tele players attitude, and he plugged straight into that amp with a delay, and it was unbelievable the way he would bend those big strings ... he was really unique.

Country music has become the music that best represents the reality of American life.

I can fall in and out of love, have marriages that barely last a month. When they go down the drain, I'll blame it on the fame.

Even on the most serious ballads, I'll throw in a tongue-in-cheek remark.

When they say you're the best, I always remember that the majority of the audience probably thinks someone else should have gotten the award.

If I get an idea for a song, I have a melody for it. I'm a musician first. I'm not limited by the fretboard.