Sometimes you just want to write a party song.

I wake up every day thinking, 'I just can't do it anymore.' There's nothing left to say, and I'm completely dry. And then I get in the room with somebody and they say the right thing, and I'm on again.

It only took me six months to get a record deal, but it took me 20 years to have a hit.

The truth is, I probably would be dead if I had become a star, because at that point I was so closeted and so afraid of people of finding out I was gay. There was no telling what would have happened.

I'm a creative person who had a lot of dark time in my life. I can still get to it: I can still go to a relationship or a time when things weren't great. But it's getting further and further from me.

I'm a commercial-minded songwriter. I'm here to make a living and be on the radio.

That internal ache is the starting point of country music. If it's a happy song and I can still feel sad in it? That's my favorite.

The Nashville Network, that's all I would watch as a kid.

When I stopped hiding who I am, I started writing hits.

West Hollywood blew my mind: gay men walking down the street, kissing and holding hands. I'd never imagined there was a place like that.