My mom was never afraid to say, 'I'm sorry. I screwed up.' I feel like that's an important lesson.

Long intros are cool because there's a little bit of anticipation, you know?

I learned a lot about my audience and about myself as a performer, what I like to do live.

I do appreciate every single dollar I earn.

People naturally change a lot during their 20s, so my songs reflect that progression.

I literally wouldn't have dreamed of it in a million years that I'm going to be standing there with George (Strait) and Garth and Kenny (Chesney) and Reba (McEntire) and Brooks & Dunn. I don't really have any clue what I'm actually doing with those people because I feel like I'm still just getting started and I've seen them all in concert and they're all my heroes.

When I got a record deal I said, 'I'm only wearing jeans. I'm not wearing frilly dresses.' Dancing around in sequins is just not who I am. I wanted to be heard, not seen.