There was a time in my late teens and early 20s where I was motivated by this wanting to get out, to prove to the world that I had something to offer - that kind of youthful spirit, where maybe I had my eye on fame and fortune. I mellowed out in my late 20s and now that I'm in my early 30s, I'm coming to peace with it.

I lived in a small city on the Mississippi River across from Iowa, so I didn't have a country upbringing, but in high school we would go drink kegs in cornfields.

The more you get into conversations with people, you find out they've been brainwashed by the news and they don't actually know any better.

For a long time I wanted to be special and to stick out amongst the crowd. Something I yearn for now is to be one of many.

[My ideal] is being able to be outdoors, have a labor intensive life, and then have this other life, where I hop on a plane and go sing to people in Norway.

You need to get out of your comfort zone, return to the Midwest, see some family, and, as cheesy as it sounds, work the land - plant some trees, maybe take up watercolor.

I want to push myself to be brave and out of my comfort zone, but I guess I stay in my comfort zone knowing I have my family close by.