There's this emotion we all feel of being overwhelmed at times, feeling that you can't get ahead. For me it's self-imposed because I'm so driven and I'm always going from project to project.

I took a complete year off the road, but a big part of that year was making 'The Big Revival.' I needed that down time just so I could concentrate. The one thing that starts it all for us is the music. That's what you create in the studio. That's where the magic happens.

I love the fact that I can go out there on stage with a guitar and sing a song that means something to somebody.

When I started playing music at East Tennessee State University I would sit on a stool with a tip jar in front of me and play four hours a night at a college bar called Quarterback's Barbecue. I wasn't thinking about doing it for a living. I was just making enough money to go to Taco Bell every day. People were eating chips, drinking beer and not listening to me. I'd had three or four years of people ignoring me, and I'd kind of gotten used to it.

When I'm onstage I just want to feel as comfortable as I possibly can.

It's tough enough to have a relationship, and it hurts enough to have it not work.

I hate album covers where people are just smiling so big. It's like a neon sign that says PLEASE COME BUY ME.