And if I want to get involved in choosing sides, I usually pick hockey or football.

My wife is cool enough to let me write about personal things, to be a songwriter exploring the shadowy sides of love.

I get nervous playing the Opry still. You take that nervous energy and channel it into being amped.

When you go to the Opry for a show or hear it on the radio, you get the whole circle of country music.

You can't write about stuff you don't know about. You have to live it. You have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Live life to be a good songwriter.

I want to be free to be any version of me I feel like being. I don't want to be McDonald's that serves the same food every time.