Musicians exist independent of any of the marketing terms or the categorization.

The congregation that I was raised in was one that sang and a non-instrumental fashion. It was all a cappella singing, and so that had a major influence on me.

I always knew about as a kid, knew that that particular injury at [my grandfather's] finger had been caused in that disaster that killed his brother-in-law, my grandmother's brother. And he never talked about his own brother's death to me. My mother told me about that and told me about the impact on her family. And that's part of what you hear in the first verse of "Miner's Prayer."

As a writer, I always tend to take the liberty and the great artistic luxury of a composite form of writing.

In retrospect I wrote things about my life and my family's existence, I realized that it was a frighteningly harsh way to make a living. And I used to say that they were slowly dying trying to make a living.

I've always been just kind of consumed by my own thoughts.

Ironically, the success I've experienced at country radio has left me ostracized from pop and other formats of radio.