Shane McAnally Quotations

I always loved Willie Nelson, but I loved the songs that Willie made famous.

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

One of the greatest tools you have as a songwriter is anonymity. If someone knows too much about the songwriter, they don't get to insert their own characters. I don't want the audience thinking about the gay guy who wrote the song.

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

I have a hard time being happy, and I think a lot of creative people suffer with that when life gets real happy.

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.

Nashville is a boys' club of redneck conservative ideas. But they're ready to embrace gay people. I never felt for one second that someone was judging me. Some people are like, 'Oh, I love gay people' in that 'I have lots of black friends' kind of way. It's awkward, but you have to appreciate that they're trying.

When something works on a huge level, everybody does it.

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

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.