I feel that energy up there on stage. The band, the crew and our road family - the look in their eyes - they're so happy to be back doing what we love to do.

Social topics may hit too close to home for people, but then again, if you pull a heartstring, then that's what country music is. It's not just songs about getting drunk and leaving your girl.

I work hard but I play hard.

Music's my medication.

One thing that I learned that helped me deal with human behavior is confrontation, and I'm not that great with confrontation at all. But once I started to be O.K. with that, the better everybody's life got.

The title [of the album 'The Big Revival']alone fit what I was feeling. It defined what I was going through. That year off was a time to revive, to reset, to reclaim, to revitalize and to re-focus. It was a revival of how I made music, how I presented it and my connection with the fans.

When I try to brush the road dust off of me and untangle all the wires in my head, I'm usually surrounded by music on a boat. But that's not how I wake up every day.