Everything I've done feels like I'm just as much a part of it as if I was the producer. It's still the same job: all of us together figuring out the common good for a song. That's the only thing that matters. It's not like, "I'm the boss, and I'm gonna tell you what to play."

I am not struggling. What I do, it is what I do.

I've always been more drawn to being normal than being famous.

You learn a whole lot more about a person if they have bad breaks and all those kind of things.

My mom said, "What I want is a happy kid, not a rich kid. That's what I root for." She saw how much joy I got from playing music, and those years were leaner than lean!

This is just strictly me wanting to make a record that is the real deal. It is all the stuff that I have learned and know that I remember. It's what I perceive as country music is about.

I made records in the past that are as traditional as any other country records that have been made, but at the same time the records have a contemporary slant on it too.