By growing up in Alabama, I had a melting pot of the whole pie: R&B, gospel, country.

The best compliment that has ever been given to me was, I was at the airport one day and a guy came in and said, 'Lionel, my wife loves you, the kids love you, my mother-in-law loves you, the family loves you.

People, as critical as it looks, we're OK. We are in control, whether we feel it or not.

Forget about surviving 40 years in the music business. Just surviving 27 years of Nicole Richie has been a struggle-and-a-half, I want to tell you. I stand here as a survivor, I want you to know, for all the parents out there.

All artists are egotistical maniacs with inferiority complexes.

I am a country boy and proud of it.

I'm a songwriter, and people will tell you the greatest stories about their lives, whether you want to hear it or not.