And it took me about 11 years to get a record deal, and I just had to work around and come to terms with the fact that what I was doing was going to be different, and I just had to wait until somebody was ready to jump on the bandwagon.

And to me, I had come out of Texas, and during that time was when I realized that a lot of people in Nashville, their idea of what country music was was not the same as mine.

When you come close to selling out, reconsider.

I'm not afraid to go out on a limb, style-wise or with lyrics. I don't ever want to be afraid to cut those types of songs because radio might not play it.

The one who actually decided that I should keep my name was my manager, Erv Woolsey.

There's no great guitarist that doesn't sit down and listen to Chet Atkins and Eddie Van Halen, and all these other great players.

And for the past 10 years Ive been in a real commercial setting where people are all about numbers, theyre all about that bottom line. So its nice to step out of that and hang out with a bunch of people who play music just because they love it, as you can imagine.