Music's the one thing I try not to analyze. I don't want to destroy the magic that has always been there for me.

I think actors are at the mercy of the opportunities presented to them. So you kind of have to wait for them to choose you. My music is insular - I can choose that.

Country music originates with the colloquial, rural aspects of white America. It's really, truly, rural white America's blues.

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 think that we come to a greater understanding of the world we live in and ourselves through reading.

I listen to hundreds of those hymns sung repeatedly over the years of my life. And I know that they probably influenced a rhyme scheme maybe to certain extent. They influenced the pentameter of placement of words, etc. And it's not something that's a conscious thing that occurred.

As an artist, you have to maintain focus and eliminate the distraction of second-guessing yourself based on the opinions of others.