Thursday, April 12 marked the date for Country Thunder 2012 in Florence, AZ. Check out this video from the Tuscon News Station, KVOA.
Here's an excerpt of an interview with azcentral.com:
Question: How does it feel to get back to the country mainstream a bit after diving into bluegrass on your previous release?
Answer: It feels great. I like big shows, a lot of volume and a lot of energy. I love electric instruments. But I do love mixing those with bluegrass instruments and cranking those up, too, with a little bit of that rock energy.
Q: Could you talk about the writing of the title track?
A: I was writing with Dan Wilson and Brett Beavers, thinking about Gabby Giffords because that had just happened four days earlier. And all the info-entertainers on the 24-hour news channels were constantly barking, trying to divide people. The politics were just so bad at that point. Dan said something about "America." Brett said something about "home." And I was like "This place is all called home. America."
We have so much more in common than we have differences. I travel the country more than any politician. I play small towns no one's ever heard of. I hang out with military families. I think I have my fingers on the pulse of this country pretty well, and what I hear on the news just doesn't seem like what I see in real life. So we captured it all in the song. And what I love about the song is that it's something anyone can relate to, and, hopefully, it helps somebody get through a tough time in their lives with the recession or having a family member in the military.
Q: Are you surprised that country radio has embraced the song?
A: Totally. Oh yeah. And I'm the biggest country fan there is, but I'm always a little cautious of a slower song or just a song with subject matter. ... This song is a little bit less of a chest-beating type of patriotic song. So yeah, I was definitely worried.
Q: It's complex.
A: It is. But Capitol Records, they wanted to make it a single, and I was like, "All right. We'll see how it works out."
I'd say it worked out pretty well, landing DB his ninth number one single!
Q: Could you talk about the writing of the title track?
A: I was writing with Dan Wilson and Brett Beavers, thinking about Gabby Giffords because that had just happened four days earlier. And all the info-entertainers on the 24-hour news channels were constantly barking, trying to divide people. The politics were just so bad at that point. Dan said something about "America." Brett said something about "home." And I was like "This place is all called home. America."
We have so much more in common than we have differences. I travel the country more than any politician. I play small towns no one's ever heard of. I hang out with military families. I think I have my fingers on the pulse of this country pretty well, and what I hear on the news just doesn't seem like what I see in real life. So we captured it all in the song. And what I love about the song is that it's something anyone can relate to, and, hopefully, it helps somebody get through a tough time in their lives with the recession or having a family member in the military.
Q: Are you surprised that country radio has embraced the song?
A: Totally. Oh yeah. And I'm the biggest country fan there is, but I'm always a little cautious of a slower song or just a song with subject matter. ... This song is a little bit less of a chest-beating type of patriotic song. So yeah, I was definitely worried.
Q: It's complex.
A: It is. But Capitol Records, they wanted to make it a single, and I was like, "All right. We'll see how it works out."
I'd say it worked out pretty well, landing DB his ninth number one single!
