TRACY LAWRENCE

I've never been one to stay in a complacent place where I just let the grass grow around me.

I definitely do live my life at a different pace now than I used to... I feel like I'm guilty of all the overindulgences of a guy in his 20s and early 30s could've gone through, but I look back on it with great fondness. I don't have a lot of regrets.

Fame and fortune and the interstate is great and fun, but it ain't life.

Everyone wants to be an arena act, and it's making country music evolve. People are cutting things more for that arena environment. But who's to say that that is a sign of any more of a successful career than what James Taylor has been able to do, when he still comes and plays the Ryman every two years?

I got an opportunity to be on a tribute to the Rolling Stones in the late '90s and did a rockin' version of 'Paint It Black' - that's probably the biggest stretch of anything that I've personally done. I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, but I understand where my parameters are.

Performing live is a part of who I am.

Things are always going to evolve and change. You might not always like the direction of it, but people's tastes change.

The group of guys I came up with in the 1990s were very innovative. I remember some of the older guys were complaining about how the music had changed, and they were being left behind. I didn't want to be one of those guys who sat around and complained because they weren't growing and evolving.

I grew up in a very Christian household. We went to church every Sunday whether I wanted to or not.

What people don't realize is that the initial sales of an album isn't where the bulk of your returns come from. It happens over time, sitting in the catalog, picking up commercials, getting included on packages here and there - there's years and years of pipeline money that goes on. That's where real money comes from - building that body of work.

I listen to everything from Lady Gaga to Lady Antebellum. I've got Frank Sinatra. I've got old stuff, new stuff. Iggy Azalea. I've got everything.

I've found, as I've gotten older, it's really difficult to write on the road. There are so many distractions, so many people in and out of the bus. It's really difficult to do. So I just keep a notebook with me, and I jot down ideas. I schedule appointments to write.

I've never been an artist that really got into fluff songs. I like songs that have substance to them. I think sometimes that may hurt me commercially a little bit. But I like to cut things that have the power to speak to people on an emotional level. That's the power of country music to me.

I don't think there's any substitute for experience.

If you just focus on making singles, you lose the personality of the record. Because everything is not meant to go to radio.

From all the years that I've been in the business, you know that ballads are what impact. Mid-tempos are great, you can sell some records on 'em, but when it comes down to it, ballads are the meat-and-potatoes on the album.

I do feel like I've changed a great deal, but not anything outside of the norm of what most people experience as they grow and they take on the responsibilities of parenthood and being more engaged in their business and all that stuff. I think it's a pretty natural evolution.

I love to sing swing and shuffle stuff. Radio may not play it coast to coast, but I love playing them. Man, they fill the dance floor up. People who live the night life at these honky-tonks eat this stuff up.

I want to be thankful for all of the things that I've been blessed with, and I've had a great run. I have a huge fan base, and I'm still able to work a lot. I don't know if I'll ever have another big impact record on commercial radio again, but you know, everybody's gonna have to face the reality that their day's gonna come to an end, too.

I remember a song I did called 'If the Good Die Young' - I wanted to have a lead guitar solo on there, and the label flipped out! It was too rock and roll. They made us go back and put fiddle on the solo.

I grew up very heavily involved in a United Methodist Youth organization. I grew up going to church camp for years. I ministered, and country music stole me away. It was just where my heart wound up. It's what I wanted to do.

Toward the end of the '90s, it got pretty rough for me - a lot of emotional unrest and problems with my relationships. That affected my career.

I'm like an old turtle these days. I don't run wide-open everywhere, but at the end of the day, I'll be where I'm supposed to be.

I always wanted to be in charge of my own career. I like having my own imprint.

Having children has been one of the biggest things that has happened to me in my life.