DON'T HATE ME BECAUSE I TWANG
People think country music is all sad songs about people's dogs dying
and wives leaving. And that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
Just go pick out an album in the country top 10 right now: Sugarland,
Dierks Bentley...something off a Keith Urban album. It's country, but
it's got a little edge to it.
SPEAKING OF EDGE...
I think my first album introduced my sound: old-school country. Haggard.
Waylon. Southern rock stuff. Then the other influence is Guns N' Roses.
I'm hoping all those guys will come back together and do a tour [with]Slash on guitar. Axl with a bunch of other guys just filling up space
ain't really a band.
CONFESSION: I LIKE 'N SYNC, TOO!
Justin's a really talented guy. I went to an 'N Sync concert in
Nashville, and it was actually cool, just the energy there in the
stadium when they played. People were just freaking out. It was pretty
neat to watch. [Laughs] This is gonna sound like they're a damn
influence or something.
MY DAUGHTER ISN'T ALL COUNTRY, EITHER
Keeley was listening to Snoop Dogg and Akon the other day: ''I Wanna Love
You.'' Pretty cool to listen to your 4-year-old talk about windin' and
grindin' up on the floor. And she walked around singing Tim McGraw's
''Last Dollar (Fly Away)'' for, like, a month. I hate that song now — no
offense, Tim.
HAT'S ALL, FOLKS
I wear a cowboy hat on stage. The guys in my band — I don't tell them what
to wear or how to look. You couldn't: They use flatirons [on their
hair]. It's ridiculous. I don't give a s--- if they want to go out there
with [nothing but] a jock strap and combat boots, so long as they're
playing good and putting on a show.
