I didn't have any intention of playing music for a living or anything like that. I was just not doing well in my head or whatever you call it and drinking too much.

I just started playing music on the street and walking around with a fiddle, and I think that's kind of when I started being serious - or as serious as it's going to get.

I was born or raised in the church, so I guess the first songs I would have played would have been church songs.

I lived by a bay for a while, and I shucked oysters. Some packing things. You know, just whatever odd job you can find whenever you're moving around. I never really cared much for the franchise kind of work, so I'd try to find things that I considered to be a little more honorable.

For a while, it was something to try to push at people, playing old murder ballads and being upset about everything I was seeing around me. But now I feel a lot more at peace with it.

I don't associate much with anybody. I'm not big on all the teachings and groups and being a part of something, I guess.

I don't think music is an art any more than cooking food is an art.