The only way to know how much is enough, is to do too much, and then back up.
I'm a Texan. Some of me is still nestled up there in the Catskill Mountains: the summers I spent with my grandfather on the farm and the guys I played basketball with in high school. But then that was it.
In the '60s, I thought golf was bourgeois, so I didn't play at all for 20 years.
Our audience is really upbeat. Likes to have a good time. They're not introverted or shy.
New Yorkers have their own way of speaking, their own tempo, and Texans are a lot like that. As much as you think Texas is one thing and New York is another, they're very much the same.
I don't try to write songs that will further my career. I write about things that I care about. I don't have a career as much as I'm having an adventure with a guitar. I never liked the business way of doing it. You have to follow some sort of instinct.
Nashville is the business center. They forget that the bottom line of it all is still the song.
I always liked having a good time. I got into this business because I got fired from any job I ever had because I stayed out late playing music.
There seems to be a great propensity in this business to write tear-jerkers, 'You-left-me' songs. I thought, 'Why don't I count my blessings by looking at what I have?' I'm pretty much an optimistic guy.