I am a fan of history.

A song is a poem set to music.

I have had hundreds of people work for me over the years, and I don't think I ever fired anybody.

After I retired and came off the road, I gathered up all my musical instruments and suddenly, I wanted them all to be perfect.

I think the nature of songwriters is that they are philosophers, and philosophers have a bent towards poetry and songwriting, so I think that the two run around together. The nature of a songwriter could be philosophical. Looking for universal ideas, a way to say things, get the story across as a means of entertaining, provoking thought.

I had the notion that I wanted to write the great dirty American novel, so I went to Roanoke College on the GI Bill.

My best album is called In Search Of A Song. That was my best shot right there. My finest hour, as they say. I could listen to the whole thing all the way through. There's nothing really crammed into it.