A tour bus, a rock band and the clothes on my back. It's real heart-breaking to see the place that you grew up, the place that you've identified with all your life going through such chaos. |
Anybody can come to our shows and have fun. |
Being the songwriter that I am, the easiest way to translate what you're doing for people is to give them hooks, something to latch on to, something they can sing themselves. |
Both songs were just reactions to what happened down there. You just try to express what happens to you in life, through your music or poetry or whatever. |
Eventually, one day, we'll have to stop — whether that's next year or in 20 years. I just want to make sure to have a whole pocketful of memories. |
If you're born and raised in New Orleans, you don't fit anywhere else. Nothing against any other city, but it's just a way of life, a culture, that's so unique. It's just the idea of having Mardi Gras, the idea in the face of everything that's happened, taking the time to celebrate. It is something you need to do to keep yourself going. |
Our fans are pretty respectful. They can get a little nutty. |
Saying his workers would subsidize enhanced payments for police and fire, I think that is very false. |
So many of our friends, families and fans lost their homes, not to mention their livelihoods, so we are very fortunate in that we can continue on with a portion of our lives, which is playing music, being positive and making people feel good. |
That's what New Orleans does. It's part of our DNA, the whole idea of going a little crazy to keep yourself sane. |
The Cowboy Mouth thing is so much bigger than just the people in the band. Everybody is just in it together. |
The energy of what we do live is something we don't really understand. It's just something we lucked into. But the chemistry of the band is rare. ... And the best way to get the very best out of people is to have them emotionally vested in things. And it got to the point on the last record where I was writing pretty much all the songs. |