I didn't necessarily grow up in a trailer park, but there is a brief part of that in my life. So I can make fun of it a little bit. I'm not too much of an outsider, where I'm just making fun of someone.
Kacey Musgraves
Of course I get angry, but I want to use my brain a little bit and not just smash things.
I'm all about small towns. I think it's a great place to grow up.
I'd rather have 100,000 people who really get what I'm doing and like it for what it is than a million who can take it or leave it.
I think if you're everyone's cup of tea, that probably means you're a little bit boring, or you're not pushing yourself. Creativity happens where it's dangerous and scary: where you're not comfortable.
Look at Loretta Lynn. Look at Jeannie C. Rily singing 'Harper Valley PTA' and Tammy Wynette singing about divorce. They were ahead of their times in a lot of ways.
If the lyrics are something new, then maybe I want to give it a more traditional form, or the other way around, but not have all one or the other.
I like when people have Western style, but it's throwback Seventies-ish. I like pearlsnap shirts and a bow-tie like the KFC man.
I did tennis for a while, and I was actually on the volleyball team for a minute.
I write my songs and just play them, so there are not a whole lot of fireworks. As long as the music comes first, it's OK to have some fireworks. But not the other way around.
A lot of times, I'm singing things that are observational and am definitely including myself.
Certain kinds of people will always have an issue with my music. But that's fine; it's OK. I don't want to be the McDonald's of music. I don't want to not turn anyone off. If you were everybody's cup of tea, you'd probably be boring.
I realize that I'm not going to be everybody's cup of tea, and that's okay. I think that's the point of music.
I love words. They're fun. I don't think any word can just be filler. There's no room for it. It's like a puzzle. Every song can be written a million times. How can you say it differently?
When I was nine, I was singing western swing: Roy Rogers and Patsy Cline. It got me noticed because no one my age was doing it, but it made me feel inferior because none of my friends could relate to it.
I always draw from things around me that people around me have gone through... The story that could be taken really literally is not from my life exactly. But bits and pieces are, and the sentiment behind it is.
In the beginning, I wrote OK songs, but they didn't have a unique perspective.
You can't beat Freddie Mercury. He was a mad man in the best sense possible.
My fans are pretty spot-on with their gifts. This girl that was super into baking had made this entire batch of cookies - there were one with a dandelion on it, one with a trailer, and some had my face.
When I started out, I wanted to be the kind of artist who could play the CMA Music Festival and then turn around and play Bonnaroo, and I've managed to do both.
I see my fans as music lovers. I really love that. There's no age group or demographic. It's people of all ages and backgrounds. Country people and non-country people. I wanted to make music across the board.
Undeniably, I'm a country singer; I'm a country songwriter. But I feel like I make country music for people who like country music and for people who don't.
I feel like, big city or small town, you can relate to following your parents' footsteps or putting your own dreams on the back burner or vices that we get caught up in - that whole cycle. That's not just a small-town thing. That's a life thing.
Loretta Lynn was one of those ladies a long time ago that opened a lot of doors and paved the way for a lot of ballsy singer-songwriters who weren't just cute.
I used to love, and I still do, Lee Ann Womack. And Alison Krauss. I mean, how many Grammys does she have? She's just remained solid and true and great, and I respect that.
When something comes to my brain, I don't ignore it. You never know what it's going to turn into.
I wouldn't ever do a radio edit because I feel like it would totally go against the point of 'Follow Your Arrow.' I just think you're going to like it or not like it.
My parents aren't crazy conservative. They're actually pretty open-minded. But my grandparents are, and where I'm from, East Texas, is the Bible Belt.
It's weird, because the ideas in my songs aren't controversial to me. I feel like I should be able to sing about anything.
I don't push buttons to push buttons. Throwing the rebel card out there is really cheap.
Lee Ann Womack is from near where I grew up in East Texas, so I've always looked up to her. I sang a lot of Dolly Parton as a kid and a lot of traditional western swing, like Patsy Cline and Roy Rogers.
I'm thrilled that country music fans like my stuff, but so do a lot of people outside of country music, people who just love music. My goal is more to reach music lovers than to appeal to a genre. I love country music, and I'm proud to represent it, but I don't obsess over it as a category.
I like to make people think a little bit.
I'm just observing. I don't ever want people to think I'm preaching at them or wearing them out.
I love Lee Ann Womack and John Prine. That's kind of my ideal cross point. If I can sing it like Lee Ann would and say it like John would, then I feel like I've gotten somewhere.
A label's typical plan would be to put something out that's safer and get fans, and then push buttons, but my idea is to push buttons first, scare off the people who are gonna be scared off, and then the right people will like you for who you really are, and stay with you.
A lot of what gets on the radio isn't saying anything other than somebody wants to be famous and will do whatever they're told to get it.
I had a blast on tour with Little Big Town. We got to play some beautiful rooms around the country - some really amazing old theaters. And it was just cool to see a band that's been together for so long.
My personal style is a big mix. A lot of it's pretty vintage. I love vintage looks. I'm obsessed with the mid '60s era, even '70s, it was a good era for clothes, hair, music, and cars.
I love vintage cowboy boots, and some days I'm into platform stilettos encrusted in jewels. It's really all over the place.
I do try to shop online and support people who hand-make their stuff, and because you can find stuff that nobody else has.
Fame freaks me out. Do you just wake up different? I don't know how to scale it back if it gets too crazy.
Too many people focus on writing what they think they should write, what should be in a song, what radio would want.
Obviously, I don't live and die by it, everything my horoscope says. But I feel like there's definitely something to it.
I needed to really pursue music and learn what I needed to learn on my own by getting in and doing it, not by reading a book about it.
It's hard to remember a time when I wasn't writing.
My parents have always had a great sense of humor. And I really appreciate good humor in songs, witty lyrics that sneak up on you and then you listen again, and say: 'That's so funny.' John Prine's songs have always had this really witty tone.
