My dad and grandpa were in the army and as a country singer you're constantly playing at military bases all across the country and meeting soldiers and their families and hearing their stories.
I do see the world as being different for girls - especially now, having daughters.
I love singing fun songs; I've built a career on them.
That's what we get to do as songwriters, right? You get to explore stuff.
I think I've claimed the right to be any version of me that I want to be.
Whether lyrically or musically, it reaches in there and grabs your soul. That's the stuff I gravitate toward.
I met Michael Jordan on a golf course! I don't even know what to say. I'm still freaked out that I met him.
When you go to the Opry for a show or hear it on the radio, you get the whole circle of country music.
When I was 13, I was just figuring out how to play 'Eruption,' poorly, by Eddie Van Halen.
Love always had my number. I could never patch a breakup together with whiskey and a one-night stand. I took them real hard.
I also was a huge 'Dukes of Hazzard' fan. I used to have T-shirts that said 'Dierks of Hazzard' custom-made.
I'm a huge fan of Billy Idol. I spiked my hair every day like him in 7th and 8th grade.
I want to be free to be any version of me I feel like being. I don't want to be McDonald's that serves the same food every time.
A typical day for me on tour is a marathon - it's like five days rolled into one.
My wife is cool enough to let me write about personal things, to be a songwriter exploring the shadowy sides of love.
I got into rock music at thirteen, listening to Van Halen, learned how to play the electric guitar.
I can act... Well, kind of. I'm comfortable in front of a camera.
Most of my read on America is through looking through the front windshield of a bus and hanging out with country music fans backstage.
In my 30s, I became more open to music other than country or bluegrass.
I discovered early on that I was more of a strummer than a picker.
I try to make my box as big as it can be because I never want to do the same thing twice.
Hey, if someone is crushing on me, and it brings them out to the show, so be it!
