Growing up in Georgia, I used to think people up north or out west were so different. They’re really not. They’re just regular people who live in small towns. They grow up and try to raise families and have a job and go to church and play softball. It’s that way everywhere.
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke rising against that blue sky? Did you shout out in anger, in fear of your neighbor, or did you just sit down and cry?
I grew up with nothing, so whenever I got to where I could have something I felt like I needed to have everything I couldn’t have when I was young.
I think if you retire from touring then people think you are retired.
The fan base that I’ve had all these years has come along. Some of them are not as plugged into the digital world, so they want to go out and buy the CD at Walmart or something.
I’ve been a lot of places, and my wife, Denise, she likes a lot of the fancy restaurants. I’m more of a basic eater. I still go into Cracker Barrel. Those are the kind of people who like the kind of music I’m making.
Hee Haw was probably my biggest exposure to live music at a young age, because there wasn’t any live music around my town and no one in my family played instruments.
I’ve always said that if you have songs on the radio and get played, you’ve got to have a tour to support that.
My mother kept asking me, ‘When are you going to do a gospel album?’ And I’ve always wanted to do a gospel album. Everybody was going on about it, so mom started hounding me more.
I love your cooking, honey, but sometimes I need some real food.
I think every album you have, especially if it’s done well, you feel like you’re competing with yourself.
I mean, my voice has gotten a little deeper sounding as I’ve gotten older, I think. I noticed that.
Love is stolen in the shadows of the night. Though it’s wrong all along, it keeps going on as long as they keep it out of sight.
Pour me something tall and strong, make it a Hurricane before I go insane. It’s only half past twelve but I don’t care, it’s 5 O’clock somewhere.
Wembley way is beginning to blacked with people in terms of red and blue.
Flesh is weak, but love is strong.
As long as I’m still able to have a hit on the radio and sell a few albums and some tickets, I don’t see that it would be worth retiring.
Did you weep for the children who lost their dear loved ones and pray for the ones who don’t know? Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble, and sob for the ones left below?
Probably some of the songs I never even really listened to the lyrics. Half of them I’d hear off the radio and was probably singing the wrong words and didn’t even know it.
I could have done a hundred songs, really. It was hard to narrow them down, because I tried to pick songs for the most part that actually did have some effect on me or influenced me in the past.