Every day I wake up and I lay in bed counting my blessings and saying my prayers for how fortunate I am to have great fans and health and family.Collection: Great
That's the beauty of country music - you have to get out there and earn it and work hard. And when you're on the road with big name acts, you realize there's no easy way to the 'Promised Land' in this business.Collection: Beauty
I'm a really, really optimistic and really, really positive person. My main thing is, 'Enjoy life. Celebrate life.'Collection: Positive
I think 'Country Girl' is one song that can veer into country or hip-hop or rap. You can listen to it and enjoy the humor and the fun in it.Collection: Humor
Growing up in Georgia, my dad was a farmer and we worked in agriculture, so we were always looking up at the sky, checking if rain was in the forecast. That always set the tone for the mood in my household, whether we had rain coming in or not - we knew the crops would be good and it was going to be a good week around the Bryan household.Collection: Dad
I used to work at my dad's peanut mill, and worked 15 hours a day, 6 days a week. So, now, riding around on a nice tour bus and doing shows, you'd have to get picky to have a downside.Collection: Dad
I grew up in a family where everybody had a good time and we were at the lake every weekend and going to the beach and living a good life. It's been the way we always lived, and my wife's the same way - enjoy every day and have fun.
I refuse to be one of those artists who, 10 years from now, they're bitter about the rise and the fall of their career. I understand that somewhere there's a peak and a crest for me, and I'm going to enjoy all levels. I'm going to enjoy this ride that I'm on, and when it slows down, that's when it will be time for another phase of my life.
I love nothing more than to perform my songs in front of a live audience. And whatever I'm doing is driven toward finding or writing songs and putting out hit songs that drive people coming to see me live. Because, at the end of the day, that's what I enjoy the most.
We're putting on a show, and if I'm dancing and having fun, you can take a shot of the crowd, and they've got smiles glued to their faces.
I wouldn't necessarily say she is a country artist. I mean, obviously Taylor Swift started in country, but she morphed into somewhat of a cultural icon, so, who am I to judge what she is?
I think the defining moment in my career is the day that I moved to Nashville - September 1, 2001. That's the biggest step to getting here is making that move. Anything that happens, the wonderful opportunities that happen to you, can't happen until you make that move.
From my dad I learned to be good to people, to always be honest and straightforward. I learned hard work and perseverance.
Just really, really believe in what you're trying to do. Don't let people alter that. Let people advise you and lead you down paths to make smart business decisions. But trust your instinct and trust that overwhelming drive that made you put all your dreams and everything on the line.
I'll never forget when me and Jason Matthews wrote the line, 'Don't be a tape player hater,' in 'Country Man,' I don't think I ever laughed harder. We didn't know where we were gonna put that in a song, but we knew we had to make it into a song. I just remember laughing and being so proud of such a goofy little line.
I try to be a good representative for country music. But as a country artist, it's important to move the needle and make a difference beyond your core audience. But you can't ever strategically try to accomplish that; then things get weird.
I've been so blessed to have my career gradually get bigger and bigger, so I've been able to absorb stuff and take stuff gradually.
You know, if Kelly Clarkson wants to do country albums because that's what inspires her, then let her do it. Look at Kanye West or Ludacris... they aren't rappin' and cussin' like they were on their first few albums, so what does that make them? It's all in the eye of the beholder and the listener. We all use our outlet to grow ourself.
I'll always have songs with a farm connotation on my albums. It's in the fabric of my music, and I plan to keep it that way.
My dad is very successful in his business. He's always been big in having hobbies and having little ways to get away. He always made time for hunting and fishing. He always encouraged me to do it.
You want women to think of you in a sexy manner. It's all part of the business. It drives ticket sales. It's all a part of it.
My focus is trying to make great music and putting on great shows, and whatever happens beyond that is a bonus to me.
I always want to make an album that lets people immerse in it, kind of like you get caught up in a good movie.
My first memories of music were country music and Ronnie Milsap. Where I grew up, it was what you listened to. And anything else, you were somewhat out of place.
A lot of people don't have near the amount of success as I've been blessed to have, and it's all about working hard and hoping that continues.
Nothing is more rewarding than to take a song, create it out of thin air and then watch it affect people.
With every album, the approach is find the best songs you can find, write the best songs you can write and try to sound better.
I don't keep diaries anymore; They're quite incriminating. I just keep all the dirt road diaries in my head.
My main thing is I'm gonna go out there every night and give it all I got and just try to put on the best show I can. That's just the way I'm programmed and wired.
To have your first No. 1 as an artist was everything I could have ever dreamed for. Now we're keeping our fingers crossed, and hopefully we'll have many more, but there's certainly nothing like the first one.
You see a lot of people out there that say they're country, and they do their little things that are stereotypical country things, but being country is a way of life.
My thing is to get up there and have a good time and give the fans all you can and appreciate them spending their money and being in the stands - and just be appreciative of them cheering when you come onstage.
My thing is, when you put a bunch of rules on a tour, you have to hire three more people to enforce all the rules. So, with me, I want everyone to feel comfortable. It's a lot of little moving parts out here, and little hiccups will come. At the end of the day, the show's going to go on, and I want everybody to truly enjoy it.