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I happen to love the patriotic songs of America.

There is a real patriotism underneath the best of my music but it is a critical, questioning and often angry patriotism.

We want to pull out songs from the American song book, and we want to make them palatable for a modern audience.

Country music belongs to America.

Country music has become the music that best represents the reality of American life.

Our songs touch people, and take them back to a time when there was no threat of terrorism, when you didn't have to lock your doors and when Mom and Dad took care of everything.

I just wanted to keep consistent and keep true to America and not seem contrived. I didn't want to seem contrived at all with any song choice that might be a detriment to my journey on 'The Voice.'

I love my country very dearly, and I greatly resent the implication that some of the places that I have sung and some of the people that I have known, and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or philosophical, make me less of an American.

I get a wave of pride in America when I look back at what we've accomplished in the field of music.

But my patriotism goes for something beyond what we have. We don't have something that I want to die for - anymore.