Little Jimmy Dickens has long been a musical hero of mine and one of the finest entertainers to ever step on any stage. I was deeply honored to call him a friend and will always remember the time I got to spend with him. The music world has lost one of our greatest treasures. Rest in peace, my little friend. You were loved by so many of us!

I just feel such freedom to do whatever. If a song's seven minutes or ten minutes long, then so be it - it's that long.

Make sure to be honest with yourself, about if that's really what you want to do with your life - to make music. It takes a commitment - a tremendous, thick-skinned commitment of being the first one to get there and the last one to leave, doing what you want to do even if you have to work twice as hard as anybody else ever did.

I've been to Iraq three times. I've been to Afghanistan, I've been quite a few places, and I want to tell you something, these kids, they're the best we've got. They're the best Americans, they're the most loyal Americans we've got. And we owe them when they come back.

I don't want to be without God's blessings.

Marry somebody you love. That's the whole thing. And continue to love them.

I can't imagine not having a reason to get out of bed at night.