Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I was a huge Garth Brooks fan.
People out west love country music.
I started playing guitar by the time I was 9.
I love coming back around Northern California.
For my shows, I don't play too many slow songs.
Having two back-to-back No. 1's is unbelievable.
I'm helping country sound a little more country.
I'm just thankful I'm surrounded by good people.
I'm trying to write songs to appeal to everybody.
I'm mixing country with kind of a modern twist to it.
I'm moving forward and getting new fans at every show.
It's been so great to have an album people believe in.
It's always a good feeling to be recognized for something.
I've been able to carve my way out with lyrics and melodies.
I lean traditional, but 'Head Over Boots,' it's pretty country.
I love performing, and if I didn't love it, I wouldn't be doing it.
I always want to just stay humble, and I always want to keep climbing.
A lot of my fans, and a lot of country music fans, they still wear boots.
California is one of the most country-est states there is. We're really country.
I'm a guy who doesn't know the name of the chord, but I know that it sounds good.
I'm a funny guy. You've got to be able to make fun of yourself. We only live once.
You gotta do both. You've got to be on those big tours, and you've got to be in the clubs.
My music is my No. 1, and I've got people who believe in me and keep me going. I'm thankful.
As a songwriter, we're looking for a good story, and we're always looking to push the limits.
What I can feel the most and what I can remember the most are the melodies I want to write to.
There's so many great people in Country Radio, and I appreciate all the support they've given me.
I chose to be this guy. It's who I want to be, and it's always been me - just keepin' it country.
I always want to have the traditional country soul while meeting the new standards of country music.
I've really been studying lyrics, printing out lyrics to songs I love and reading them like a letter.
I just have fun on stage. There's nothing premolded out there. I try to always do something different.
I can play with Florida Georgia Line. We can throw down with people. I think that's what sets me apart.
There's so much you can learn from being on a big tour and so much you can learn from being in the clubs.
'Head Over Boots' is a shuffle, but it's more of a Motown laid-back shuffle than, say, a Dwight Yoakam shuffle.
If you get music on a personal level, you are doing something right. It's not just in one ear and out the other.
If you can take a piece of life and put it in a song, it's going to be a good song - especially if it's from the heart.
There's a connection when people are dancing, laughing, and singing, and that definitely happens with 'Head Over Boots.'
As a songwriter, you always look for guys that you can write good with. Show up, have an idea, knock it out of the park.
As a songwriter, you always want to search for something that's right in front of you that you can twist into something new.
I love traditional country music, and I feel like there's a need for it and a want for it. But I enjoy everybody in country music.
Take everything you can from what people say. Keep going and stick to your instincts. And what your soul tells you to do, use that.
'Dirt on My Boots' was pegged as the second single from 'California Sunrise' from the get-go, and we felt like it was just a fun song to go with.
I played the bars in northern California since I was 18. We played at least three hours, and there's no which-way about it: That definitely helped.
You've got these guys that have this fresh, street, hip-hop country that sells a zillion. Keep doing that. I'll keep doing my stuff. We'll see how it goes.
At 14, I was in my own little classic rock country band. Then, after high school, I started another band called Northern Comfort. That was based out of Chico, Calif.
My California sunrise, there's a real mist in the air. I think of the mountains. You can smell the farm fields. You can smell the dirt and the lights and the whole sun.
You gotta have a good beat to survive in modern country in general. Everyone wants to feel good, laugh, dance, and cry. But at the same time, they all want it to sound happy.
I can be a traditionalist but also play with Luke Bryan and get the crowd to go crazy. I think that mix is a lot of what has kept me going and kept people fired up about the music.
I grew up in rural Dixon, CA, and I've been hunting with my father ever since I was a young boy. He taught me how to hunt and shoot, firearm safety, and have respect for the outdoors.
We travel so much as touring musicians and artists that sometimes, when you hear a great song that you really think could be on your project, you go ahead and record it instead of try to write it.
'Dirt On My Boots' is a very different song. I heard the melody, and I heard the lyrics, and I heard the drive of that song. I totally related. It was kinda me when I was on my bulldozer working for my dad.