What would we do if we didn't try? We have to try.

You can't second-guess your audience. You can only do what you think is right. If you do that, your audience will appreciate you.

That's right, you're not from Texas. But Texas wants you anyways.

I've been lucky to be able to make the records I've wanted to make. The record company has never pressured me to cut certain songs.

I'm not the kind of writer that can wake up and say, "Okay, I'm gonna write a song today," and have that song be the kind I would want to record. The songs of mine that I end up liking are songs that come from real experience. They're like chapter titles in my life.

When I first was trying to play the clubs around Houston to start playing my own songs, songwriters like Eric Taylor and Vince Bell and Townes Van Zandt and Don Sanders were just really encouraging to me and would let me sit in with them during their sets and introduce me to the person that owned and booked the club.

I enjoyed hearing people do their own songs. I became attracted to singer-songwriters. I became interested in them as people; was curious about what they wanted to say.