I'm going to make country records back to back for a while - until country radio doesn't want me anymore or until I get my own theater in Branson - one of the two.

I grew up in South Carolina. A lot of what I remember back in the day is AM radio. When I was a kid, you could hear Stevie Wonder and Buck Owens on the same station. All the walls and lines between music were taken down for me.

Getting people to come play my 'Darius and Friends Show' was so easy because it's for St. Jude, and that's a great thing.

The other guys in Hootie were into rock. I brought the country influence.

Hearing Radney Foster was big for me, like hearing Al Green or R.E.M. for the first time.

I'm used to being the only black guy. I've seriously walked onstage, looked out in the audience, 15,000 people - and I'm the only one in the place. It's no big deal. My whole career's been like that.

I love Hootie & the Blowfish and what we do, but that's not my main focus anymore.

I've played golf since I was fourteen. I like how no two rounds are ever the same. And I get to be out in nature... and hang out with my buddies.

I'll take the kids to school after breakfast. I love doing that - love being a dad.

When I'm singing a song, I'm in that song, and I'm thinking about what emotions I should bring to the song. Voicing a character was very similar. It was high energy, and I had to really think about the emotion of what was going on in the scene.

One of the great reasons to be in Nashville is, you get guys like Shane McAnally to write songs with.

If you hear a song and you like it, you like it.

I'm black because I was born this way. I'm proud of it. Thank God I am who I am.

The music I like or the football teams I like or the food I eat has nothing to do with me being black.

I always say, no matter what happens to me as a black man in country music, I can handle it if Charley Pride could handle all the stuff he went through.

I love Christmas. I love the music... I love everything about Christmas. I'm a big fan.

I'm always trying to find myself little holes where I can do some songwriting.

At the end of the day, I'm a fan of great stories and great songs.

What I love about each album is the opportunity to expand on what we've done in the past - to push myself and the band creatively, vocally, and lyrically.

I always tell people, the first time I heard 'She Talks To Angels,' those lyrics did something to me.

When you're doing a Motley Crue tribute record, you can ask anyone to do it, and they're not going to say no.

It seems that with other kind of music, they are looking for the next big thing, but with country music, they might be looking for that, but they also want to have that warm blanket that helped them through that relationship or that singer they have always loved.

If it wasn't for Kenny Rogers, I don't think I would be in country music. He was that guy when I was a kid - his music and 'Hee Haw' made me perk my ears up and made me say, 'What is this? I want to hear more of that.' He was that catalyst for me to start this whole run in country music.

Whether you are on stage or playing golf, all it takes is one person to throw everything off.