Country fans need to support country music by buying albums and concert tickets for traditional artists or the music will just fade away. And that would be really sad.
A lot of people that I've met who don't like country music just haven't been introduced to the old country.
If I'm listening to country, it's Hank Williams, George Jones, Merle Haggard and stuff like that. If people out there don't take that stuff seriously, well, they just haven't listened to it and don't know what they're talking about.
People might get mad at my style or my delivery and say it's not country. But the country music that brought me to Nashville? Man, I will always have that on a pedestal.
I have so much respect for the genre of country music and for all the greats that have been a part of it. I'm a country singer, I'm a country fan, and I'm a student of country music.
I do think that inside of country music now there's a very silent majority, and I represent that silent majority.
Every time I tried writing my own songs, they would come out very country. I couldn't fight it, and the more I listened to country music, the more I loved it, and it just became very natural.
I like country music. I'm not going to lie. I'm from the South, and I grew up on it. My dad was a country singer-songwriter, so it's in my blood, and I love it.
I love country music so much. I love all kinds of music. But when it comes down to it, I'm from East Tennessee, and country melodies and country songs have always just sliced me in the heart.
There is a bit of a movement as far as younger people in country music. That is cool because people are saying things like, 'I didn't listen to country music until so-and-so came along.' And I'm like, 'Yeah! Now you know why I love it.'
We work so hard to stay true to country music. People can say they don't like it, but they can't say it's not country.
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.
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 find most modern country virtually unlistenable. I can't relate to the music or the lyrics.
