I'm the most low-maintenance person on the road.

Nominations come and go. It is not going to happen to you every year, and I am very well aware of that

There's no great guitarist that doesn't sit down and listen to Chet Atkins and Eddie Van Halen, and all these other great players.

When you really are country, and you don't just wear it like a piece of clothing or something, you really can't get away from it. It just is who you are

And for the past 10 years Ive been in a real commercial setting where people are all about numbers, theyre all about that bottom line. So its nice to step out of that and hang out with a bunch of people who play music just because they love it, as you can imagine.

We have never seen a career like George Strait's in this business, and I venture to say we never will again. He has handled things amazingly well.

I can see me continuing to make the best music I can, and let the chips fall where they may.