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Back in the '90s, if you did mail order in music, you could make a good living doing it if you could hustle.

I'm learning to work under pressure. Yesteryear songs are slow and demanding on the expressions.

The word matters in country music, and it always has. And everybody had lived those words in country songs.

One of the things that I think is such a constant in country music is that the song is so much a story. I believe it is supposed to be based around a story.

A part of me was like, 'Man, do I even like doing this anymore?' That whole thing of 'I'm in my 30s, and I sing and write songs while people are fighting wars in Iraq.' You know? So everything had to have more meaning, and it couldn't just be about making money. So, I took a minute.

Cowboys had guitars. And they sang country 'cause they lived in the country.

I think the first thing you should know is that nobody in country music 'made it' the same way. It's all different. There's no blueprint for success, and sometimes you just have to work at it.

The first job I ever had was singing in a jazz club when I was like 15 with my friend, and we earned like 70 bucks. We were like, 'Oh my God!'

Country music historically has been sort of middle-aged people's music.

I think that... the age of just slapping songs into movies, that's done.