James Blunt Would Rather Be Real Than Cool

"I've never seen myself as a celebrity," Blunt told Gibson.com. "I see myself as a touring musician. I share a dressing room with my band. I love being on the road."

Gibson first spoke with James in 2007 and we thought it would be good to catch up - a decade later. Blunt, an avid J-45 player, sat down with Gibson.com to discuss his relationship with Gibson guitars, life as a touring musician and why he believes music brings people together.

On not being cool: I was in the army. Nobody was cool there. We dealt with life and death. I don't write songs about what's cool. I write songs about what is real. I'm not cool. Real life isn't cool. It's all about the sense of reality.

On his new album, The Afterlove: My writing is more mature and exciting on this album, and the production is beautiful. There are some bold songs on there, and there are some very different styles of songs on there that others might not expect from me. To me, this album has really exciting songwriting. I spent more than two years making it, and I wrote more than 100 songs.