I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.

In the Air Force, I had an old Wilcox Gay recorder, and I used to hear guitar runs on that recorder going (vocalizing) like the chords on "I Walk The Line." And I always wanted to write a love song using that theme, that tune.

Creative people have to be fed from the divine source. I have to get fed. I had to get filled up in order to pour out.

A song stylist is, like, to take an old folk song like "Delia's Gone" and do a modern white man's version of it.

If you aren't gonna say exactly how and what you feel, you might as well not say anything at all.

Rick Rubin came to my concert in Orange County, Calif. I believe this was, like, '83 when he first came and listened to the show. And then afterwards, I went in the dressing room and sat and talked to him.

When I record somebody else's song, I have to make it my own or it doesn't feel right. I'll say to myself, I wrote this and he doesn't know it!