I am so anti-people's opinions when I'm making a record, but when it's finished and I put it out there, I hope somebody likes it.

It's always performing for me. I write and I record so I can perform. It all ties to that. I've done it since I was a little kid. That's my absolute rush, is playing for different people every night, bringing something else to the table they've never seen.

We sat around and I fed them barbecue and whiskey. And pretty soon everyone started to compete with each other on the guitars. It seemed the more everyone drank and ate, the more everyone got into it.

When you take other people's opinions, you end up flailing and you have no center.

Every storm runs out of rain, just like every dark night turns into day.

If you date a musician, you're never, ever really gonna be first either. You're gonna be right behind the music and maybe right close.

I try never to focus on the radio, just find great songs, find emotion and just write the best songs you can. I think when you get fixated on trying to do something too accurate, it becomes more washed out and less what you intended it to be. So I think each time the challenge for me is to try and reinvent a little bit.