The town I came from really had one industry, and that was furniture.

I'm going to do everything I can to keep from being mainstream.

The town I came from really had one industry, and that was furniture.

The most important thing for me as an artist is having an identity.

Man, if anybody knew the path that we've been on, no one in their right mind would ever try to duplicate it. That's something Nashville always tries to do, though. If something is successful, they try to repeat it by telling other people, "Hey, do what that guy did." I just don't think it works that way. The first one who gest there, the one that cuts the path ... it's always the roughest path but I think it's got the most reward at the end.

I went to my dad when I was 17 and said, 'I want to be a country music star.' Which every dad loves to hear. And he said, 'I want you to go to college.' So we had a discussion. And I'm pretty stubborn. I'm a lot like him. And he said, 'If you go to college and graduate, I'll pay your first six months of rent in Nashville.' So he bribed me.

The key to songwriting is just to be able to observe, and put yourself in situations to be around people, and let those ideas come to you.