There's no soul in perfection.

Everybody needs somebody sometimes.

Sometimes I just cry at random stuff!

If it's a real dream it's uncrushable.

Life is about holding on and letting go.

I don't want to impress, I want to inspire.

I tend to write better when I'm not touring.

Everyday I see a little more of my father in me.

Since I was a kid I just wanted to be in Nashville.

I make no apologies for being a huge fan of radio songs.

Let water wash our bodies clean, and love wash our souls.

And now you've lost the only thing that ever made you feel alive.

Raw is a good place for an artist. It's where the truth comes out.

I'm a little more comfortable in that role. I love being in the studio.

Days go by I can feel 'em flying like a hand out the window in the wind!

My father's record collection was all country. That's how I was exposed to it.

I love the beginnings of artists when all they've got is raw talent and nothing else.

Nothing like seeing the genesis of the relationship between an instrument and a child.

When you put your arms around me, You let me know there's nothing in this world I can't do

At the end of the day, the Grammys are about recognizing genres that are making an impact.

You go through life experiences. Each record captures a different turning point in my life.

They're mostly done before we went into the studio, although I do like writing in the studio.

It took a while for her to figure out she could run but when she did she was long gone, Long gone.

From the cradle to the grave, temptations all around. But no matter how good the fix, its gonna take you down.

I've never wanted to name an album from a song title if I could avoid it because I like it to be a body of work.

Country seems to be finding a bigger audience. Certainly an audience out of the general country scene is finding me.

I don't swear much; I've taken those words out of my vocabulary, and having kids, you have to have two sets of language!

I've always been a pretty private, quiet kind of person and so I haven't had to change my life really at all, I don't think.

You changed my life. You changed my ways. I don't even recognize myself these days. It must be a reflection of you, only you.

Being with my family is very important to me, and touring is very important to me, too, because it's who I am. It's what I do.

I think it took me a while to convince Nashville that what I do is genuine and my heart's in the right place, and I love country music.

Getting on the bus and touring was my life. And when that was not around, I felt myself a bit lost at times, because that was all I had.

The world is getting so reality-driven these days. It seems to be accelerating exponentially. But it's a dangerous game for a lot of people.

Once we get into the groove, we're kind of like long-distance runners - that adrenalin kicks in for me and I just keep running - and I don't stop!

I always wish I'd had more mentors, better mentors, wiser mentors, people who were proper professional working musicians to guide me as I was coming up.

Take your records, take you freedom, take your memories, I dont need 'em. And take your cat, and leave my sweater, cause we've got nothing left to weather.

It's not the case of turning in a bunch of songs and recording the next month. I think you're looking for songs all year long and you're writing all year long.

It's something I've always loved doing. I'm not one of the artists who comes in and just does my bit. I'm there every second of every day. That's my hands-on situation.

Youre always in a different headspace when you make each record, so hopefully theyre all different. You just pick up things that you wish you hadnt done on the first one.

You're always in a different headspace when you make each record, so hopefully they're all different. You just pick up things that you wish you hadn't done on the first one.

A song like 'Once in a Lifetime' is inspired by my marriage - it's a good, life-changing happening in my life. I think when you find your once-in-a-lifetime love, that's what everybody's looking for.

I think the industry is oblivious to the fact that most people listen to all kinds of stuff. I personally don't know of anyone who listens to only one genre of music. It's vanity because no one does.

The older I get the more I can see How much he loved my mother and my brother and me And he did the best that he could And I only hope when I have my own family That everyday I see a little more of my father in me.

It can get a little costly if you try and leave it until then to write songs. But you're writing all the time. You're collecting songs. I've had songs that have been collected over a two-year period for my next record.

Red carpets are pretty unpredictable. You can go from one person asking you what you're wearing to the next person asking you about the situation in Haiti. It's the extreme juxtaposition, and some of the questions can throw me!

If I knew what I was doing, I'd be doing it right now. I would be the best damn poet, silver words out of my mouth. My words might not be magic, but they cut straight to the truth. So if you need a lover and a friend, baby, I'm in.

I'm grateful when anybody can start to have his or her limited perception of the genre open up a little bit. There's a lot of great music in the country genre that doesn't get heard because people say, 'Well, I don't like country.'

I think there's just so many people in the world that don't feel understood, and when you hear a song and you go, 'Oh, that song understands me,' that's an amazing feeling. I get it when I listen to the radio... That's a beautiful part of music.

Someone said one time, 'If your marriage isn't your priority, you're not married,' and I thought, for me that's so true. So as long as I keep her as a priority, everything else sort of seems to work. And when I don't keep it as a priority, it's ... Jenga.

There are certain songs that are sacred. People want to hear them just as they are in their head; they don't want you messing around with them. And then there are some other songs, if they've been around a long time in our set list, that I think we can take some creative liberties with.

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