The reason music became so powerful to our generation is that it's art you can consume in your car, and we were driving around a lot.

I was born on this mountain, this mountains my home, she holds me and keeps me from worry and woe.

I don't separate writing songs from poetry and short fiction. In the area where I work in my house, there's a word processor and a guitar.

I think the criticism that I take to heart is from other writers that I respect.

I'm trying to make records where people don't feel cheated. Nashville has been guilty of insulting the Country Music audience for years and years.

I don't think I'm a political songwriter as much as I am just a political person. I think it's in my fabric.

What songwriting does better than almost anything is empathy - it's incredibly empathetic. The reason people sat around in bars when they were bummed out and listened to country songs is because it made them feel better in the long run.