I was raised in bars. My grandmother had one, and when I was 12 years old I'd go stay with her and that's where I got to watch her band play-she had a seven- or eight-piece band, and I would sit in the kitchen and peek through the door. I was kind of a 12-year-old bottle washer. |
I've got three or four really mainstream double-platinum kind of artists that are kind of late in their deals, too, that have contacted us. They trust in the fact that I'm willing to stand up and fight for the rights of songwriters and artists. |
It was the most creative thing I've done in a decade. |
It's a pretty big undertaking with every business lesson I've ever learned in hand. |
It's that dark cloud, the glass half empty on everything you do. It just becomes too much for me. So I unplugged myself. |
James made every record ... that established my career. |
My deal will always be one solo performance-nominated or not. Not some thrown together rock tribute. |
My first gig, I was about 17 or 18. But I'd been singing a long time. I got a guitar when I was 8, and started trying to write songs as a teenager. |
My mom taught us the Serenity Prayer at a young age. |
My wife got upset, but I usually take those things, when people say stuff about me like that, and turn them into gold. So when the person who said that goes to her Wal-Mart and she's looking for a garden hose and looks over and sees the album, she'll know what a great idea it was to call me white trash with money. |
None of the Nashville labels think I'm going to make it. But I feel very confident about my new label, because I'm signed as the first act. And as long as I continue to sell records, the label is going to be outstanding. |
Oh, and I don't want to die for you but if dyin's asked of me I'll bear that cross with honor 'cause freedom don't come free |
Probably 75 percent of the people in this town think I'll fail, and the other 25 percent hope I fail, |
That's more along what the story is, as opposed to me being onstage singing. |
There are a couple of things that are really brought home from a female perspective. In the studio I sing hard, and she softened that up. On 'Crash Here Tonight' she said 'You have a rich baritone voice, and I think this song can be just as sexy as all get out. Let's keep it in this register. Let it be sassy and intimate. |