Growing up with country, R&B, gospel, and classical music from my grandmother and pop, Tuskegee was the perfect melting pot for my influences as a writer.

Growing up with country, R&B, gospel, and classical music from my grandmother and pop, Tuskegee was the perfect melting pot for my influences as a writer.

I just had to find all my friends that used to be in the business. As I say, the music business didn't die, it just moved to Nashville.

So much of my career has been about saying things the way people say them, using melodies not that I can sing but that the people can sing.

The music business was not safe, but it was FUN. It was like falling in love with a woman you know is bad for you, but you love every minute with her, anyway.

I am a country boy and proud of it.

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