The drama teacher that I had in high school, back in Texas, was the only teacher who didn't kick me out of his class. He turned me on to 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.' I had picked up Dylan with 'Bringing It All Back Home,' and he turned me on to the first couple of albums, which I hadn't heard.

I'm supposed to make people cry, but not by manipulating.

I was born on this mountain, this mountains my home, she holds me and keeps me from worry and woe.

I've never known of Wal-Mart to be a good neighbor in any town it's ever moved into.

All we do as songwriters is rewrite the songs that have impressed us till we find our own voice. It's part of learning the craft.

What songwriting does better than almost anything is empathy - it's incredibly empathetic. The reason people sat around in bars when they were bummed out and listened to country songs is because it made them feel better in the long run.

I have a theory that the people who cook in jails are British chefs.