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To me, country music tells a story about, and deals with, the way people live their lives and what they do.

Most country songs, certainly all the stuff I've written, are stories driven by characters.

I think of a song in terms of lyrics and stories, and that's what keeps it country for me.

I do know that country music is driven by the songs. I think there's probably a core of what the material is about, which is family and love and the ups and downs of life, and I think that resonates with people.

Country music busts the wall between performer and audience. There's a connection because there's a vulnerability, a confessional quality, to so much of the songwriting. Those lyrics take you in.

Country music is all about telling stories, and we're just telling a little different one.

A country song is a song about life.

Well the country songs themselves are three-chord stories, ballads which are mostly sad. If you are already feeling sorry for yourself when you listen to them they will take you to an even sadder place.

Country music is the people's music. It just speaks about real life and about truth and it tells things how they really are.

I do think I'm country, but your definition of that word might be different from my definition. In my opinion, country music, the sound of country, has always evolved. But the one thing that has not changed is the story element. And I think country songs are truthful songs about life written by country people.