I think the music business is changing. Artists that don't want to tour and just want to collect royalty checks and stay home are not going to be able to do that.

I wasn't raised to not write about issues, and I'm just living in really politically charged times. You know, I'd rather write songs about girls, but it's just hard to do right now.

Politics has always been in my music. Anybody who doesn't understand how political "Copperhead Road" is isn't listening very well.

Politics and music don't necessarily go hand in hand. They just do for me.

I'm used to writing stories with a beginning a middle and an end in four minutes.

Or you can be like the Soviet Union, start out with ideals, and end up ceasing to exist.

I don't care what's happening in the mainstream of country music. I haven't in a long time.