You can't roll a joint on an iPod, buy vinyl.
I still believe in the old-school show thing no frills, no fancy equipment just a guitar and some amps and some drums, and throw it out there and do it the best you can in a live sense, because it's easy to make records. But the live show is where you really show if you've got the balls to do it.
Be exceptional. Make tremendous efforts to be extraordinary. What a privilege to be here on the planet to contribute your unique donation to humankind. Just make sure you do so.
The world has changed a lot since I started making records.I used to go into a studio and there were songs there, chosen for me to see if I liked them. I wasn't encouraged to write.
I like strength. I depend on my own.
Music should be poor. Music should be with out air conditioning. That's just the way it is.
Ben [Peeler] and I have known each other for a decade. He trusts my crazy ideas and spontaneous combustion and he gets the players I want and knows the kind of personality players I like. He has taste that I trust and that to me is more important than any technical things.
I wasn't encouraged to write just stand there and sing and I never thought I was a writer. I always figured if I couldn't write something as good as "He Stopped Loving Her Today," then what's the point?
I've pretty much run the circle of labels and dealing with that whole kind of battle, because you're the one creating the music, but you're not the final say. That's always been hard.
I can't write about your pain; I only know my own.
I didn't go to college.
The musings are the same I believe the fire to create burns so heavily that I am never far from a guitar or a fountain pen.
I don't feel like taking anybody's money.
I was raised in South Alabama in the woods, y'know? I'm country.
I can't tell you how freeing it is to have my own label. For the first time in my career, I have total control.
My drawings are another kind of music for me...they relax me and I think they all connect somehow.
I can't stand too long of a record.
My band can tell you, I'd rather do anything than rehearse.
I am very picky about my people and my beer.
A great hang is mandatory. But in all of my years as a traveling musician, on a whole it's been pretty damn magical. There have been a couple duds along the way, but most time, I'm in awe of the guys who want to play on my records.
I can find some way to make poetry out of my life's experiences.
I'm the audience first, and if you're gonna be a great performer, you need to be a great audience. So, I do music for me first, and whoever likes it likes it, and whoever doesn't -- well, it's just not for them.
I'm comfortable in my miseries. I have no choice.
It was hard to work and work and work and not get your music played on the radio.
The only way to get ahead in the music business these days is to call up all your friends. To pool your resources.
