I'm sure there are a few things in my CD collection that might surprise people. I like classical music, the blues, and I'm a big fan of alternative rock.
I'm a country musician. I know how to play jazz, and I can play rock. But I've had to fight my entire career to get a little respect from people who don't understand where I come from.
I like to look at the songs like they're little movies.
At certain times, your career should be a party.
In Nashville, if people don't like someone, they say, 'I don't really like him,' then add, 'bless his heart.' In Hollywood, they kind of leave that last part off.
I don't want to do risky. I want to do important. And lovable. Important and lovable.
When they say you're the best, I always remember that the majority of the audience probably thinks someone else should have gotten the award.
I like comedy.
I like Katy Perry. I like Kesha.
I've heard my share of Van Halen. I never liked rock.
When you discuss racism, it's almost a no-win scenario - but I don't think that means we shouldn't be discussing it.
Alison Krauss is definitely my favorite singer that's ever lived. I've never heard anyone like her.
I love any and all situations where you celebrate creativity.
Some of the worst selfies I've ever seen are at Auschwitz or Ground Zero.
I don't like to look back. I love the next challenge and don't keep awards. There are a few that are really important, but my parents have most of them.
The artists who stick around for a while are the ones who go, 'Oh, that's cool, never thought of that. Ought to do that.'
It's rare that you're sure you're right in life. I'm finding that.
I had an old, red-covered '63 AC30 - one of the best AC30s I've ever heard. I cut the whole of the first record with it.
My life would be very puzzling to most people if they had to follow me around for a day or two.
I don't think you can get everything based on who you know, but you can't get anything until you do know the right people.
If a little kid picks up Guitar Hero and learns 'Smoke On The Water,' he soon finds out that if he wants the chicks to look at him, he'd better learn it on the guitar!
If you're somebody that gets a chance to go somewhere... that has to work somewhere or go to another city, then do your best to see it. Because I just think that's the best way to have an interesting life.
I wanted to be Buck Owens and Bill Anderson and Roger Miller. With a higher-resolution video screen. And lasers.
I'm always trying to think of things we haven't done.
By no means do I try to go out and hang out with famous people.
I don't think I've changed anything in the country format whatsoever. But I'm not worried about it. I've found my place in it.
When you got something you gotta do in your career, you do it. When you get home, and there's work to be done, you do that. It's all about balance.
A hat has to be shaped to a person's face so it fights just right. It has to be done right. If you put my hat on, with my shape, you'd look like an idiot. If the bill is too high or too saggy, you look like a European tourist going to their first country concert.
Even on the most serious ballads, I'll throw in a tongue-in-cheek remark.
Here's the problem with talking about who I voted for. If I say I voted for Romney, then everybody's like, 'Of course.' If I say I voted for Obama, everybody's like, 'Of course.' And then I'm no longer the guy you can't figure out.
I have two little boys, and I want them to feel like this is the nation that I know. That this is the nation that isn't petty.
You're a sitting duck in a mall if you're a celebrity. It's like that scene from 'Guarding Tess,' I think it is, where Shirley MacLaine goes to the mall just to feel good about her celebrity.
You're going to get flak if you tell the wrong joke, but it's still the wrong joke. Give the wrong speech, you take it on the chin.
You look out there and there's people that, their day is changed because of your contribution to it.
As a songwriter, it can be a kiss of death for you to fall in love.
When you hear a banjo through stutter edit, it's the coolest thing you ever heard.
Deep down, I'm just a West Virginia hillbilly.
I listen to the same things that a lot of my fans do, and I grew up in much the same way they're growing up.
When you see Obama and Trump shake hands and seem to show respect to one another - that is what we need.
I love being an enigma. Every time I'm tempted to respond to someone who tries to put me in a box, politically - you know, someone who gets on the Internet and says, you're pro-gun, or you're anti-gun - I stop and say to myself, 'This is great; this is what I wanted. I wanted to be the guy you can't figure out.'
It just gets easier in that you become more you in the process.
I imagine there's a market for total depression. I grew up on George Jones and that really dark stuff.
I've always been able to laugh at myself.
If there's a song where there's a possibility of guitar stuff that would be fun to listen to, go for it. Don't worry about what anybody thinks.
When you're old-fashioned like I am, you know marriage is forever. Those vows are a promise.
Something about cactuses and rock music is a good combination.
I consider myself a bit of a comedian. I write a lot of humorous songs.
When I made 'Who Needs Pictures,' my first album, I had been west of the Mississippi River one time in my life, and that was in fourth grade. We traveled to California for vacation and stayed with some friends of my parents. It was culture shock, and it was different.
To be a true artist, I have to be true to who I am now and write that way.
