Music saved my life a few times because I could play the stuff rednecks loved. They thought I was great and they wondered why I didn't do that all the time.

I was known to spout off about [ politics and religion] sometimes, especially in my drinkin' days! It was pretty dangerous actually.

I notice guys playing the piano playing a part up here and a part down there, and I wandered why couldn't I do that on the guitar?

Gibson ES 125 was a real instrument, this was in 1956. I started learning; I had a vision of a sound.

I didn't have the self-promotion instinct, and I just didn't care about it. I sort of had a "beat" attitude.

I had admired Waylon [ Jennings], but I never expected to meet him and get to know him. When I finally moved to Nashville years later, one night I went to a Harlan Howard Guitar Pull thing, and there was Waylon. He started talking about how much he loved my work and how great I was, and I couldn't even get a word in.

I was a young folk singer, or wanted to be. I really wanted to be a New England folk singer, but they never would accept me. I was always hard to categorize, and people wouldn't know what to make of it.