I've seen people who have been coming to my shows for 25 years.

It was unlikely that anyone had ever heard a black person sing country music.

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.

It used to be that if you had a pretty good record, you could stop by a station in Little Rock or Atlanta and let the DJ listen to it. No way something like that can happen now.

What we don't need in country music is divisiveness, public criticism of each other, and some arbitrary judgement of what belongs and what doesn't.

A fan will grab you and hug you and will not let go. When that happens, you wish it could be that way all over the world.

My brothers and sisters all sang, too, and they all have good voices.