I'm an honest dude, not trying to be anything other than who I am.
Sometimes people are looking for, 'What's the next Tesla car? What's this really cool, super-specific thing that people are going to want?' But I try to be just like a Ford truck. They sell a lot more Ford trucks than they do Tesla cars.
There's an authenticity in just being who you are and not having an act about it or wear clothes you normally wouldn't wear. I'm just comfortable in my own skin.
My tour manager, I met him at Boot Barn. He was selling me a pair of boots... and he said, 'I moved to Nashville to be a tour manager, and I need work right now,' and I said, 'Man, I don't even have a tour manager. So you can tour-manage me.'
When I picked up guitar, it wasn't like, 'OK, I'm going to be Kenny Chesney.' It was like, 'I want to play a chord,' and then it was like, 'I want to play another one, then play a song, then sing while playing the song.'
I don't want to put myself in any kind of a box as far as my sound goes, because being an artist is fluid. If you look at a painter's work, a lot of times, it's similar in style, but other times - over even a year's period - it can change so much. I'm just going with the flow.
As crazy as it sounds, my generation is very lazy.
It's a good pair of jeans and a pair of boots that are comfortable and a T-shirt; that's as far as I go. Getting wild with it might be a nice jacket, but I'm not a high-fashion guy for sure.
I've been singing my entire life. The guitar came to me later on down the road.
Write what you want to write, write what people want to hear, and write about what they're going through, because if you could connect with the people who are listening to your music and coming to your concerts and coming to your meet and greets, then you're doing your job well.
Turkey hunting is my thing; it's only once a year, but if it's turkey season, don't call me, because I won't answer.
The coolest Christmas present I've ever received is probably socks. My grandma always gets me socks - every year - and that's something that I've probably never bought for myself. If Christmas wasn't around and my grandma didn't get me socks, I wouldn't own any, probably.
I've always been a 'small goals' kind of guy.
I really enjoy the shopping and going out and getting stuff for other people. I could really give a damn about getting gifts for myself, but I really enjoy giving gifts.
We'd been out touring for a couple of years before we signed with Sony and everything.
I drove to Nashville a few times, met with some people and hung out, went to the Opry, and that kind of stuff. I made the decision - you've got to be present to win, so I packed it up and moved out here, and it's been great. It's been the best decision I ever made.
I just love writing songs and singing them. People seem to enjoy them, and that's all you can really ask for. I didn't get into it to try to be a celebrity or whatever.
Sometimes, you sit down to write a song, you don't realize what it's going to mean to somebody other than yourself.
I think I never had this grandiose dream of being any country music star. I just slowly progressed into that's what I'm doing.
I didn't know how to play guitar until I was 21, but from the moment I was good enough on guitar to even put one song together, I kind of billed myself as an artist.
