It doesn't really matter to me what the rest of country is doing. I'm not caught up in trying to make a record that sounds like everybody else. That, to me, is a record label's absolute biggest downfall.

Performing for the Dalai Lama - those are words I never imagined coming out of my mouth.

I married a woman who's not going to take anything. No slips. She's very accountable, and she holds me very accountable.

I enjoy my life very much.

Our agricultural colleges continue to graduate specialists who become vocational agricultural teachers in the schools, and county agents, who go forth to extol the virtues of poison insecticides, herbicides, and commercial fertilizers.

I'm a traditional country singer and we're always trying to make that a fresh and modern sound. That's always going to be the challenge with me.

The risks are 'How country can you go?' rather than 'How rock can you take it?'