Records are one thing, and obviously, without hit songs, you don't have the opportunity to do your shows. But my live show has always been my selling tool.
I didn't want my records to sound like anybody else, and when I've got my guys in the studio, I have a language with those guys because we work together every day. A lot of times, you bring in outside guys, studio players, whatever, and they're great musicians. It's just that they don't necessarily play the way I want it to be played.
Our first No. 1 was 'Why' and we waited two years to have another one. It felt like forever, and now I feel like I'm celebrating one every few months, which I love.
The 'Night Train' has already been a crazy ride for me. We flew around making TV appearances and stadium announcements all over the country, fueled by little more than coffee and adrenaline... so many fans jumped on board with us, and I couldn't be more thankful.
I have a love of baseball and a love of music.
Entertainer of the Year, to me, there's never been any question that that's one on my bucket list that I want. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you. If there's one that I ever could get - I would trade all the rest of them in for that one.
It's the only time that I'm ever nervous on stage, is when we're doing live TV. Especially an awards show, because I know you can't fix it.
I've been wearing Wrangler jeans for more than a decade now, all the way back to when I first started playing clubs in my teens in Georgia.
There's nothing cooler than a good fitting, worn-in pair of Wrangler jeans, so it's great that with the new Retro line, my fans can go out and rock the same styles that I love.
I think it's important for artists to work together. It's great for fans to see, like, Ludacris came out to our show in Atlanta and kinda made a surprise appearance there, it shows a mutual respect for what each other does.
The DVR thing has rocked my world. Being on the road, I used to not keep up with any shows. Now I got a DVR, so I'm watching everything: 'CSI: Miami,' my favorites 'Criminal Minds' and 'The Mentalist.' I like some of the HBO stuff, 'Entourage' and 'Eastbound & Down.' My wife got me into the 'Grey's Anatomy' deal, so I'm watching that.
Now one thing I think is really lame, is if you're an artist and you go to a karaoke bar and sing your own song. I like to get up there and sing stuff that I would never sing on stage anywhere else. Like Neil Diamond.
The only person that anybody's ever said I resemble is a young Elvis. It used to happen a lot more when I was younger, and more when I don't wear a hat.
I had an opportunity to play baseball in college, but I just didn't want to go to school. I started focusing on my music and it was game over!
After my first No. 1 song back in 2006, I worried I may never have another one.
If you say, 'I'm going to cut this song because I know the teenagers are going to love it,' well, then you're going to alienate everybody else. When I cut my record, I'm just going to cut the things that I like, and whoever likes it, likes it. That's too much work to try to figure out the demographic. That's too much like a business.
In the music business, especially the country music business, every 10 years or so you're going to have this changing of the guard, this wave of new artists that comes in.
If you can go out with your live show and turn people on to that, where you have that fan base that's religious and they're going to come see you when you're in that town, once your radio success is gone and you're not a mainstream guy anymore you can still go out and play your shows.
Playing a stadium is a big adrenaline boost for me and I dig it. It keeps me on my toes and makes me revamp everything I'm doing and not get stagnant with how I approach every show, which is something I like.
I'm very particular about the kind of music that I record and sing, and it would be the same way about the kind of movies that I would do.
