My mom said, "What I want is a happy kid, not a rich kid. That's what I root for." She saw how much joy I got from playing music, and those years were leaner than lean!

It is not fun singing about losing somebody like that, but at the same time it was easy to write because the memories were so real and vivid and so much a part of who I am.

When you ask a songwriter, "What's your favorite song?" he goes, "The next one."

I formally proposed. I'm a good Southern gentleman.

I don't want to impress somebody, I want to move somebody. Say the most with the least.

My last two records that I made were both quite pointed in one direction and I think I do my best stuff when it's all over the map, when there's a couple traditional things, a couple pretty rocking things.

I've always been the high harmony singer. It's never my job to know the verses! But I know the chorus of every song ever made.