I love the idea of stepping out of the band situation into a solo world with no boundaries, no expectations, where nothing is out of bounds.
Success is fickle, but creativity is a gift.
I wish I had a nickel for every song that I've left in the bathroom, written down on a matchbox, or just totally forgotten about
I wrote songs all my life, where anyone wanted to hear them or not.
I feel like I have the greatest life an artist could dream of.
I was born in Alabama and my first live music experiences were in church. Every Sunday we watched regional gospel groups on television singing their hearts out
Around '75 when the recession hit, club owners started going to disco because it was cheaper for them to just buy a sound system than it was to hire a band.
Songwriting is the other weight on the opposite side of the scale from touring. They balance me out creatively.
I never did heroin, because I thought that meant I was doing heavy drugs, which shows you the insanity of doing drugs. I probably should have done heroin, because I understand heroin actually makes you feel good. Cocaine just makes you stupid.
We were playing popular music, but we were doing our own arrangements because we were too lazy to sit down and figure out the originals
It was more fun trying to figure out I Want To Hold Your Hand than to take lessons. By this time I knew basic chords
If music became extinct now, I dont know what Id be good for.
When I was a kid, I liked the newer music that was coming out. I have never really felt confined by any style of music. I would play in bands that were soul bands or that played standards - any kind of music that I enjoyed playing.
You can have fun, but you also have to put on your thinking cap every day
We're kind of defined by our mistakes
When I was about 3, my grandfather used to give me and my sister a nickel to sit out on the front porch with him and sing songs.
I soon gave up instruction for self-teaching
I'm not the kind of guy who deserves to play a vintage guitar because I'm too rough on instruments.
I don't like looking back.
When I became 16 I started thinking seriously about singing.
I like being on the road, living in hotels. While I've got a real nice house, I go crazy when I'm there.
I remember my first moment onstage was at a 4-H contest at the Pratville Junior High School cafeteria auditorium around 1965. I had my first electric, a Silvertone with the amp built into the case, and I won first prize.
If I have an idea, I write it down, although I usually carry a little dictation machine with me because I'm too lazy to write
By the time I did that third solo album, I'd finally learned how to do it, but I'd also learned that I liked being in a band
I don't write on tour. There is so much to do day in and day out when you are on the road.
