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.
I believe in the future of country music, but a future without roots is like a kite with no string.
A lot of people that I've met who don't like country music just haven't been introduced to the old country.
The word matters in country music, and it always has. And everybody had lived those words in country songs.
You know, traditional country music is something that's going to be around forever.
I always know I'm a country singer, and regardless of where I've fallen into different places with my music, I know that, really, I'm a country singer.
I always respected country music for its narrative and how it's so solid, you can get the picture in your mind.
I grew up listening to a lot of classic country, and I think that shows in my songwriting.
I figure the oldies are real close to what rocking country use to be.
In terms of exploring an identity in the country music world, what I realized very quickly was that there are people who have been performing country music since they were kids. It's very much a part of who they are; very much that jazz and blues are a part of who I am, because I grew up listening to and playing that kind of music.
When I first got into country, I was trying to do the traditional country thing, and I still have a heart for traditional country. But the songs I was writing just weren't falling into that category.
You gotta 'be' country music - you can't just sing it.
When you're playing country music, you have to tell the truth.
If people would've heard what we were doing back in the clubs in the late '90s, they would be really shocked to find out how country our sound really was back then.
Country music is just country. It's going to shift around a little bit, doing some different instrumentations, different production styles. But it will always come back to what you heard at the Opry. Nobody wants it to change.
I'm from Michigan, but I'm just as country as anyone else. Maybe I don't have the speaking voice of most country singers, but it is what I love. It's how I've always sung, and it's what I grew up on.
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.
Hopefully, people will rediscover real country music. After all, it's in my blood.
I don't like all of the contemporary country. I like some of it, but I'm mostly into the traditional style.
Country music is always changing but the Opry is always there to serve as a lighthouse for what country music really is. The past, present and future is all encompassed by not only the physical structure of the building but also the radio show.
Country music was the music I was brought up on. It's the music that's closest to my heart and the music that speaks to me the most, and it's always been a big influence on my own songwriting.
You don't change country music; it changes you.
