I was on one bus with my band and crew for seven years. I didn't come to town with a karaoke tape. I didn't get on a TV show. There were no shortcuts. Anybody who wants to follow my model is welcome to it. You don't want to follow my path.

Record labels today are much less patient: Artists have a bad record, and they're gone.

In 21 years there are a lot of ups and downs. There are melancholy times. There are sad times. There are happy times. There are unsure times. There are life lessons.

An important mentor for me, in terms of teaching me that there's a right way and a wrong way to do things, was probably my football coach. And playing football was one of the first times in my life that I realized nothing is given to you. You have to work really hard.

My mother is a very fun-loving person. She has been through a lot in her life. She has had a couple of divorces. When I was in high school she was a single mother. That's when I learned to do my own laundry.

I was on one bus with my band and crew for seven years. I didn't come to town with a karaoke tape. I didn't get on a TV show. There were no shortcuts. Anybody who wants to follow my model is welcome to it. You don't want to follow my path.

I live on a boat two months out of the year, and if I did not have that then I don't know how I'd be able to handle all this.... I am a very intense person on stage. I have to remember why I am there, what I am doing. You can spend all day backstage preparing for the show and lose sight of why you are doing this. Off stage, I am a very simple kind of guy. I live my life in flip-flops.