I don't ever worry about whether I'm being true to my country roots. My country roots were adopted. I never worry about what I can do and what I should do. I just do what I want to do.

The world has lost a legend, and I have lost a friend. Johnny Cash was the rare soul who could be both.

I was the audience he wanted to reach. Gram Parsons' writing brought his own personal generations poetry and vision into the very traditional format of country music, and he came up with something completely different

I'm so grateful that I'm able to do something about this passion that I have for shelter animals. In a strange way, it completes me. It means so much to me and makes me feel like I'm truly making a difference.

Patriotism can be good or bad. Knee-jerk patriotism can be very bad. I'm patriotic almost to the point of self-consciousness, but I love my country the way I love a friend or a child who I would correct if she was going the wrong way. Who I expect the very best from.

It's just a sound, and a feeling that's in the music. And you either hear it and appreciate it, or you don't.

Every song that I start to write, I wonder if I'll be able to write it.