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

Even now, when I'm asked how I'm doing, I like to reply, 'Pretty good. I've got all my fingers and both eyes.

The time I spent thinking about how I was better than somebody else or worrying about somebody else's attitude was time I could put to better use.

I grew up not liking my father very much. I never saw him cry. But he must have. Everybody cries.

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

For most entertainers, there is a single experience, one defining moment, when confidence replaces the self-doubt that most of us wrestle with.

I realize I was more of a curiosity to the older Nashville artists than the new ones.