To me, songwriting is the backbone of Nashville. Looks can go, fads can go, but a good song lasts forever.
I always try to make the music that I like and think my fans will like.
I don’t write all my stuff. Everybody always thinks that. But in just about every album I’ve ever had has been about 50-50 songs I’ve written or co-written and other people’s songs.
What I enjoy doing more than anything is, I have my little antique car collection, and when the weather is pretty I like to get out one of my old cars. I have a little route I run down in the country, down Nachez Trace Parkway. The loop down through there is just really relaxing, not much traffic.
If you can last until you’re 40 years old, hopefully you’ll be mature enough to figure out the rest of the years.
Oklahoma’s always been good to me.
I’ve had several working-man songs that I like.
If you just do 50 to 60 shows a year, it’s not that much time away from home.
I’ve had to live with women all my life. I grew up with four older sisters, and I was the baby and the only boy.
You think a lot of people get to be big stars and get a little crazy, but most of the ones I’ve ever met have always been surprisingly normal, and I’ve enjoyed that.
He’s written some great songs. I thought that “Blues Man” was a perfect song for me to do as a tribute.
When I was in high school, I don’t know that I really had big dreams.
I didn’t realize until I was older what a huge music fan my daddy really was, and actually that my grandma played banjo at one time, and I didn’t even know that until a year or two ago.
You just write about things that happen.
I think I’ve always approached making albums pretty much the same way. I’m just looking for a mixture of songs and topics that aren’t the same thing over and over.
I like to write sad songs. They’re much easier to write and you get a lot more emotion into them. But people don’t want to hear them as much. And radio definitely doesn’t; they want that positive, uptempo thing.
You have to be tough-skinned and willing to accept criticism, and at the same time, just try to do music that you like and you are proud of and not just whatever you think it’s going to take to get you on the radio.
The music business doesn’t take up that much of my time. I probably should put a little more energy into it.
It’s a scary word, ’cancer.
I’ve always wanted to make a bluegrass album.
There’s no hall of fame for that working class hero, no statue carved out of stone. And his greatest reward is the love of a woman and his children.