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.

I think if you expect it to do well, you come off a little bit cocky.

It's something that Cory Morrow said to me a long time ago - "Don't ever forget why Nashville is Nashville. The Opry is there for a reason. Country music lives there. Don't be bitter. And don't ever treat Texas or Nashville like either one isn't important."

If you're true to yourself, it doesn't matter where you record your music or where you say you're from. I am an artist from Texas, proud to be from Texas, but I play my own kind of music, my brand of country music.

When your songs are like your babies, even the one that you know aren't great, you still love.

Ultimately, these fans that we're blessed enough to have, the ones who pay money for tickets to come see us live, that's the bread and butter. That's the basis of what this is. Before I ever had the chance to record an album, the live show is what it's been about.

I really think it's just the people you put around you. For instance, you mentioned "Kiss Goodbye," that was a song that was brought to me by Dan Couch and Dale Oliver. They had already started writing it without. They had put together this whole demo of music with no lyrics.