On the phone from a South Carolina tour stop we chatted recently with the man behind hits like “You Look Good in My Shirt,’’ “You’ll Think of Me,’’ and recent ballad “Without You’’ about songwriting, singing, and guitar-slinging.
Q. Along with contemporaries like Brad Paisley and Vince Gill, you have an ace up your sleeve with your guitar-playing. It helps set you apart, but how do you control your guitar hero impulses onstage?
A. The people that I was most drawn to when I was playing growing up were really more of the Mark Knopflers [of Dire Straits]. It wasn’t so much the big, peacock-strutting guitar playing, it was way more about the song driving the whole thing. It’s really where my long outros came from, songs like “Tunnel of Love’’ by Dire Straits, those sort of songs where there was almost like a part two, a little bit like [Derek and the Dominos’] “Layla.’’
Q. While you write many of your songs, you’re also a fan of other songwriters, including Stoughton’s own Lori McKenna, whose “The Luxury of Knowing’’ you cover on the (deluxe version) of “Get Closer.’’
A. What struck me about that the first time I heard it was I don’t recall hearing a song written quite from that perspective before. There’s certainly any amount of songs on less-than-loyal partners. Normally a song written from this place would have some kind of revenge or victimized angle, and instead what I loved was this unresolved suspicion that just simmers in paranoia. It wasn’t outright accusatory. What a magnificent, weird place to write a song from. It really resonated with me.
Q. There’s a real intensity to it, and if you’ve ever been in that position it perfectly captures that before-the-dam-bursts feeling.
A. And I have. It’s strange, actually. I was in a relationship like that in 1993 and it was a very strange place to be where this person knew they could trust me completely with everything but I couldn’t have that reciprocated. And I have also, unfortunately, been the person who was untrustworthy in that situation too, so I’ve been both people in that song.
