I worked so hard for that first kiss

She said I bet you don’t remember me

But I was so wrapped up in sports growing up as a kid, that I think I was going to grow to be a pro ball player. But I found out real quick that was not going to happen.

We knew we could make a great record because we had the confidence of the last album. We were then able to go further, take it to another level.

I mean, there`s a little bit that gets out, but for the most part, the thing that makes us work, and makes our family successful, and our life successful, is when we walk home and we walk into our doors of our house, all that other stuff is left outside. It`s not a factor.

But, yea, I grew up in a strong Baptist background.

When I was a kid, my step dad started this business and would go out and get lost cows and stuff. He was part-time truck driver, farmer and cowboy. He taught me how to ride from an early age.

I like the values in Flicka, and I wanted to do a movie my kids could see and be proud of.

I didn`t want to play a rancher. I didn`t want to have a cowboy hat on; I wanted to get away from that in the things I do. But I read the script and fell in love with it. As hard as I tried to say no, I couldn`t.

I mean, I grew up riding. I can`t ever remember not being able to ride or rope and all that stuff. It was part of my life growing up, so it was fun for me.

I`m coming up on 40 next year, and after making so many records and doing music for so long, I`m looking for a change and a different perspective. And every now and then, I think I have something I want to say.

It`s innate in me to be a Democrat - a true Southern populist kind of Democrat. There`s not a lot of those anymore. I`m not saying I`m right or wrong. That`s just the way I feel.

I don`t want to make that sound like I`m preaching from a mountain top when I say you have to give your family everything, because I know it`s hard for people. I`m lucky to be in a position where you can establish those ground rules and make it that way.

Country radio went through a time where they were trying to pigeonhole everybody, and trying to make the gap really narrow, and I think that they`ve opened that up a little bit.

I want to run for the Senate from Tennessee. Not now, but when I`m 50, when music dies down a little bit. I know lots of artists and actors have those delusions of grandeur, but ever since I was a kid, it`s been of interest to me.

The last movie I did, I was very lucky: I got to work with probably the best actor of our era, Billy Bob Thornton. He`s just incredible. I was like a sponge: I soaked up everything he had to say.

I think you have to be a little bit strict. You can`t be friend and their parent in a lot of situations, especially in this day and age where it`s so dangerous for kids. So there`s a bit of sternness, I guess, in the way I raise my kids.

I love Bill Clinton. I think we should make him king. I`m talking the red robe, the turkey leg - everything.

I live in a house with four women. Just shut up and say, Yes, ma`am.

Everyone should have their own opinion and be able to voice it. No matter what it is. Of course, that does not mean your opinion is always right. But, you`re certainly entitled to your opinion.

I have three daughters, so I can`t be as tough as I want to be. When you have kids - especially daughters - they know how to work you. They`re a lot smarter than we are, that`s for sure. But I`ll be more tough on their boyfriends.

I feel like that I`m learning all the time. I`m learning from new artists, from established artists... every time I listen to `70s rock `n` roll records, I`m learning. And I think that I`m just now starting to get a hold on what I do.

There`s rises and falls and ups and downs in all music.

No, there will come a time where I`m not gonna do this anymore. I mean, there will come a time, definitely, where I`ll turn into Elvis - I`m gonna be fat and fishin`, I guarantee you.

I always want to learn but I am sure on my dying day I will feel like I left something in the bucket.

I`m actually not an exhibitionist at all. When you get onstage and you get under the lights playing music, I feel more hidden and more alone than anywhere else. You hide behind your music and let your emotions come out through the music.

You know not having my real dad around and having a step dad made me want to be a great dad. So now I have been one for 9 years. And now 3 daughters. So, that is what I am - a dad, first and foremost, before anything else. It`s just something that comes natural now.

I`ve been around the music business for a long time now, and I`ve had a lot of chances to do movies. But I didn`t really want to do any until I found stuff that started to hit me in the right place.

You know, we`re very private, and I think that we really separate and try to keep our privacy to ourselves. There`s things that people assume a lot of times, and we understand that people are interested, but we really try to keep our family life private as much as we can.

We`re very blessed, just very fortunate to have the things we have.

I`m a private guy, and you don`t want to be out there preaching to people. But faith leads you in the decisions you make. You don`t always pick the right path, but it`s there in your conscience.

I coach my daughter`s softball and basketball team. We go to all the school functions. We go out to eat at night and take the kids to the movies. We try to be as normal as we can.

I love producing. I have been producing some acts and starting a label.

Five years ago I figured we were at the top of our game and that was the best it was going to get, but with every album it seems to keep on building on itself.

The issues that matter to me are the social safety nets for people, health care, middle-class concerns. We need to take care of the middle class and the poor in our country.

We`re parents first, and once you have kids, everybody knows that you have priority lists. Number one is your family and everything else just kind of finds its place.

I mean as long as I have been doing music I know I am only 30% of what I could be and want to be.

You don`t try to get influenced by everything that`s going on with all the other music around you. You don`t listen to the radio - I mean, I don`t. When I get ready to do an album, I don`t listen to anybody else; I don`t wanna be influenced.