The people I used to have around me from Nashville was showing love to the Cash Money clique on the strength of Buck trying to make it making sure Buck gets to where he gots to go.

When I first came to Nashville people hardly gave country music any respect. We lived in old cars and dirty hotels and we ate when we could.

I think I first realized I wanted to be in country music and be an artist when I was 10. And I started dragging my parents to festivals and fairs and karaoke contests and I did that for about a year before I came to Nashville for the first time. I was 11 and I had this demo CD of me singing Dixie Chicks and Leanne Rimes songs.

I'm from Tennessee. My mom lives in Nashville. I'm born and bred country. That's all I listen to.

Growing up in Nashville especially in a music business family means growing up with knowledge that seems like common sense until later in life when you realize people spend thousands of dollars a semester trying to learn or pretending to learn while looking for some intern job on music row.

Nashville is one of the greatest places for the best songwriters in the world. It's been fantastic to live there and to raise our family there. It's a great town.

When you look around right now Nashville is kind of going through another changing of guard you're watching the Martina McBrides and the Faith Hills and all of them that have been the big stars for the last however many years and the next generation is coming in: Miranda Lambert Carrie Underwood those girls.

I finished high school moved to Nashville for college and set out to break into the music business. Every night when I called home with news of my experiences my mom and dad would encourage me to keep taking those small steps.

I went to my dad when I was 17 and said 'I want to be a country music star.' Which every dad loves to hear. And he said 'I want you to go to college.' So we had a discussion. And I'm pretty stubborn. I'm a lot like him. And he said 'If you go to college and graduate I'll pay your first six months of rent in Nashville.' So he bribed me.

L.A.'s cool I had a run with it to where it just pretty much wore me out. I love the weather and I have great friends there great family but I really cannot take a lot of the culture. Like Nashville where everybody's a songwriter everybody out there is an actor.

It was just like a dream. I could have ended up with an album that's not all that different from anything else coming out of Nashville. Mutt made the difference. He took these songs my attitude my creativity and colored them in a way that is unique.