The first time with artistic endeavors is, if it’s working, it was your idea, and if it’s not, it’s somebody else’s idea.
Old dogs care about you, even when you make mistakes.
I had the notion that I wanted to write the great dirty American novel, so I went to Roanoke College on the GI Bill.
I’m a very comfortable and happy-go-lucky old man. I never wanted to be great, because I’d just get worried.
People think because you’re private, you have something you don’t want them to know.
I knew a lot of chords, but they weren’t the chords that came with the melody that came with the idea I had for the song. Melodies are simple things. If you see a train wreck, there’s a melody. If you see a little daisy blowing in the breeze, there’s a melody.
When you retire, it’s a place in life, a part of the journey. You just don’t quit work; you develop an attitude where you can do what you please.
It used to be that youd have a song recorded by a major country artist and if it was a hit, you could buy a car. Now you can buy a dealership.
If Barbara Walters was interviewing me, I’d figure her career was as dead as mine!
Religion is a strange, wonderful thing. More crimes have been committed in the name of righteousness than any other notion.
The first guy who came up with the concept of religion was sitting out under a tree. I’m sure of that.
The best compliment I ever had is, one day I was in Nashville, some disc jockey said, Hey, that sounds like a Tom T. Hall song. Up until then there hadn’t been any such thing.
The way you look for songs, you find yourself looking for little signals and clues about life and how things are.
This generation should entertain this generation. It’s only fair. When I was a kid, I mowed the lawn. Now, somebody else’s kid can mow the lawn.
The enticing allure of Nashville is that there is always something new coming down the pike. Put this record on and you’ll hear footsteps.
I don’t know why songwriters struggle. They have to, I guess. If you’re a young songwriter, quit struggling. It makes you look bad.
Is this really Butte, Montana, or just existential blues?
My best album is called In Search Of A Song. That was my best shot right there. My finest hour, as they say. I could listen to the whole thing all the way through. There’s nothing really crammed into it.
I took up a sort of a hobby of just hanging around the local library. I’d pick out an author and I would read all their books.
I never hid out. I was never big enough a star.
I was well traveled, and I created this illusion of literacy through reading and writing. I wrote a book of short stories.