People pay attention to lyrics, and the race matter was delicate.

Performing is an experience, for me, that is as humbling as it is energizing.

No one had ever told me that whites were supposed to sing one kind of music and blacks another - I sang what I liked in the only voice I had.

Mother was a talkative person, and I was a lot like her.

If Detroit was a watershed concert for me, traveling with Willie Nelson through Texas and Louisiana was a milestone of a different sort.

A lot of celebrities relish politics and are eager to lend their names to candidates and causes. I never wanted to be a spokesman for anybody.

Chet Atkins... is probably the best guitar player who ever lived.