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I have a ranch, which is my favorite place in the world.

I jetset around and play these songs and get to hang with some pretty amazing people, then I go home to a really great farm, though actually it's a disaster area of a farm at the moment. But it's certainly a blast. I wouldn't trade lives with anyone right now.

I go stay a week in these little towns that don't have an art outlet and... go to the schools and play some of the old Texas music, sort of 'go through the Texas country roots' is what they call it.

I've lived in Kansas for more than thirty years, and for half of those, I was part of a ranching family, so I'm writing about things I know and love.

My plan was to release a tape, move to Arkansas, live on a farm, and make music like Bon Iver.

I will write a verse or a story and bring it into a songwriting session, because that's what's big in Nashville - the collaborative part of songwriting.

I'll always have songs with a farm connotation on my albums. It's in the fabric of my music, and I plan to keep it that way.

Everything I see and hear... I will take ideas from anyplace, anywhere, anytime, and life has become a song to me. I'm always looking for a song.

I'm about making music and spending time with my family. I've been in the spotlight so long that I'm looking for something different.

My ideas come when I least expect it, so I've always got to have a studio nearby or close by somewhere.