Man, I live in Nashville. I know how good other songwriters and singers are around here. There's a wealth of talent in this town, not to mention the people who shoot in for a week or two to try their hand on lower Broad or the other venues around town.

I don't stand in anybody else's way of accomplishing their dreams, and I don't like people standing in my way, either. That seems like a hostile thing to do.

A Hank Cochran song in the studio is spiritual. It's like singing a hymn in a church.

I feel pretty used by the music industry, in that my contracts are written in such a way that I don't get paid. And that makes me wanna quit working for whoever thinks it is that I work for them. But I've clearly got a job that I can't quit.

What's wrong with us isn't a rap sheet of bad deeds, but a damaged heart, a soul-sickness, that plunges us into fearful self-protection, alienation from God and others.

I didn't grow up around my father. I didn't really grow up around my mother, either. I was raised by a community of people. Spiritually speaking, my father is in Heaven, and that is who I look to for all my answers. And that's why my faith is very strong and why my passion is strong.

I think people wanted to see some specificity in faith on TV.

I just hope that God will give me the strength that I can prove my worth.