Country Music Roots Quotes

I believe in the future of country music, but a future without roots is like a kite with no string.

I'm not really into alternative country - I'm into Patsy Cline, who lived down the street from where I lived, and old Dolly Parton records, Kitty Wells and that old stuff. I like country music. I also like Eric Church, who has a great new sound but also holds onto that old sound.

With The Key, it was, I had gone through a divorce and losing my father, and just kinda really reminiscing about how much I loved the traditional side of country music, so I made a record that was really traditional from start to finish.

There's something magical that happens to every three-year-old that hears 'Ring of Fire.' That's usually where it starts for most people. They immediately want to put on a black shirt, grab a guitar and sing 'Ring of Fire.'

Well, you know, people don't know me as a country artist and I am new to the genre. But that's how I grew up singing.

You know, traditional country music is something that's going to be around forever.

I figure the oldies are real close to what rocking country use to be.

Oh, I think country has changed tremendously. I think country has totally changed. Country music when I was a kid was Hank Williams. If you put Hank and Elvis together, there wasn't that musical difference. But as the Beatles showed up and the English invasion, I think country music got pretty far away from rock n' roll.

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.

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.

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 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.

Hopefully, people will rediscover real country music. After all, it's in my blood.

You don't change country music; it changes you.