Green then begins talking more about "What I'm For," saying that when he recorded it -- two years after the release of his last record, "Cannonball" -- he was anxious to record some new music.

"We've had a great response to the record," Green said, noting that the re-recording of his signature hit, "Carry On," was a call he made.

Saying that the song was "a favorite" and "one of the strongest songs we've ever written," the Green and Walt Wilkins-penned tune is a concert and fan favorite and with a new, more Nashville-centric crowd latching onto his music, Green thought re-recording "Carry On" made sense, even though it had been a single, hitting No. 35 on the country charts back in 2001.

"Of course the stars have to be aligned to release it as a single again... you never know," Green said.

To date, 2003's "Wave on Wave" is Green's biggest hit, having reached No. 3 on the country charts that year. The first single from "What I'm For," "Let Me," went as high as number 12.

Green says that obsessing about the charts isn't something he does. Plus, he said, the public doesn't really care if a song made it to No. 8 or No. 19. They just want the music.

Green notes the most recent single, "Country Star," which this pop country music reviewer specifically noted in a review of the album this past February, in that it "deliberately layers on the cheese" was a humor song in the Brad Paisley vein.

Green admits the song, which is a tongue-in-cheek take on Nickelback's "Rock Star" and Kenny Chesney's "Big Star," did not take off the way he and the label expected.

"With humor songs you know pretty quickly whether or not it's going to be a hit," Green said. "It wasn't moving very fast." Seeing that, Green and BNA Records decided the title track -- "What I'm For" -- was a good choice for the latest single. It's currently in the Top 20.

Producer Dann Huff, who has been a force in pop and country music for over two decades, was at the helm for "What I'm For."

"Dann is fantastic," Green said. "He has a tremendous knowledge of how to make songs work."

Green thinks the new album has one or two more singles in it. And he says that he is looking to getting back to his rootsy sound on the next album.

"I want to lean a lot heavier on the creative side rather than the marketing side," Green said.

And will it have those "songs about Texas" on it?

"I used to have a deal in my head that (an album) had to have a Texas song on it," he said. "And believe me, I love to sing about my home state."