In my opinion, if you buy a ticket to see me you're buying experience. People don't want to see me stand there and play guitar, they want to party with us.

When we got to Steamboat, we were on that big stage at five in the afternoon, and it was almost at capacity. I told my guys 'no matter what we've done to get to this point, no matter what lows, what highs, right now we are here and we've got a point to prove." It was probably one of my most memorable performances thus far.

I'd love to do a live record, I'd love to do an acoustic record, I'm already thinking about what I may want to do with the next studio record.

Once we get out on the road, my tour manager who is also my guitar player does a great job of taking weight off of my shoulders where I can just focus on playing the shows.About two hours before every show, the pacing starts and the anticipation builds. I prepare for it just like I would when I used ride bulls, slap yourself in the face, wake yourself up and get your heart going.

Also, I think I'd like to see more out-of-state shows, man. As bad as I hate to say this, I'm looking forward to playing for nobody. That's what happens when you're a guy like me and you travel out to Sacramento, California.

As far as the persona, I'm true to myself. Not because I'm arrogant, but I'm true to myself because I believe that you have to stand for something. When you start sacrificing that, even if it's just a line in a song or something you say on the mic at a show, or the way you treat someone when you see them out in public, that all reflects on who you are.

Without changing my style and who I am, they [Trent Willmon and Dan Couch and Dale Oliver ] know how to draw those things out of me. It was a really cool experience on this record, because I tried really hard on the writing to make sure that I wasn't just writing it just like I wanted to.