He has been gratified by the early positive response.
But this is like, ‘Okay, good.
I spent time on the right thing.'"
Credit: Joe Vaughn
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve worked across multiple disciplines.
Why was now the right time for a book?
That’s the common denominator: I’ve always enjoyed writing.
Ballantine Books
I think I had a really good environment in school for it.
And she was a fing stickler.
I just always carried that [habit] with me and would write a lot.
I was offended by the idea that I would be a musician that wrote a loose book of essays.
I really wanted it to all tie together.
The book is less about the mechanics of songwriting and your discography than some might expect.
Was that a purposeful choice?
Yeah, because I think everyone is always going to have their own technique.
It’s hard to teach someone to be creative, and people have their quirks.
This is more about artistry in general, and how life and creativity have worked for one guy.
Yeah, I think that it has to begin to build.
How difficult was it to figure out what to include?
But as far as what not to put in, there were bars that it needed to clear.
That’s like, “What have I learned from my music?
That I’m supposed to cause harm in making the book?”
It doesn’t make any sense.
It’s not that kind of book.
You don’t get that dopamine hit at someone else’s expense.
Little did you know he would go on to be a multiplatinum, CMA Entertainer of the Year.
Oh, yeah, that was funny.
And he goes, “Nah, I don’t think so.”
I said, “I’m pretty sure you did.”
I was like, “I don’t remember that.”
I should send a book to Keith, too.
Thank you for reminding me.
When you talk about fandom, that guy has enthusiasm for talking about music for days.
He’s such a musician’s musician.
Oh, he’s fantastic, yeah.
I think that served my state of mind really well.
Having to read it over and over again calmed any nerves about it coming out.
I was able to continue to lose stuff.
I just kept subtracting.
I think the process of writing something that’s memoir-based is hopefully the eliminating of the badly filed memories.
You recently started theArtsVote 2020 podcastwhere you are attempting to interview all of the Democratic presidential nominees.
What was the inspiration for that?
I mean, they’re not going to stand up at the debate and start talking about the arts.
They’re going to have to hit what people consider the main stuff.
And they all have really thought about it a lot.
Is that your hope?
Hopefully it resonates with somebody else.
And I never think that you have to resonate with everyone.
One thing you learn as a songwriter is some people are just immune to your bulls.
It doesn’t hit them at all.
You’re all together in this thing, and you’re free to’t say why.
It just kind of works.
