I've had some shows where I really plan out what I'm going to say. Then I've had other shows where I'm like, 'Take a sip of the Ole Smoky Moonshine and just let it be natural and cross your fingers that you say the right things.'

George Strait is the king and Kenny Chesney is about as big as it gets right now, though I wouldn't mind going back out on the road with him. Maybe I could go out on the road with some singers from other genres.

I started thinking about this truck and why do I still have this same truck? After all of these years, why am I holding on to that? I just starting thinking about other things: guitars, boots and jeans. I just had a tendency to hold on to the things that have meaning to me.

My guitar, it was new when I got it, but it has a hole like Willie's where it's just worn out from my pinky going back and forth over the wood over all these years. I got Willie Nelson to sign that spot on my guitar. I'm a huge fan of him.

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.