The life that I live and the experiences that I have always affect what comes out of me creatively. I think that's what makes music real.

I've found throughout the years that I needed a place where I can go with no TV, no computer, no phone and just have no distractions and just be able to sit and think and just not be disturbed.

I haven't always been the guy that walks into a room and automatically the attention is on me. I'm normally the guy that stands off in the corner.

It's so cool for me to do what I love to do for a living and meet people from all over the world.

'Firecracker' was such a fun song to write and to perform.

I was trying to learn how to deal with the freedom that I had away from home for the first time. 'Long Black Train,' the song and the album, are very special to me. It was just one of those things that I felt like God gave to me for a purpose, and I've been out here promoting that purpose.

My granddaddy on my momma's side, he was a romantic. He loved love songs. Every Valentine's Day, I remember him buying a red carnation for my grandmomma, my momma and my sister. That was something you could count on every year.