I am connected to the past in a way that keeps me going forward. Every leap forward that I make is by reaching back and firmly getting a footing in the past, and pushing forward as hard as I can.
My spiritual system is 12-step programs. That's the only one I've ever had. I didn't have one before that.
San Antonio is like a military town. It's like literally - when I was growing up there, there were five Air Force bases, plus Fort Sam Houston. I was always sort of near the military.
I'm from Texas. I hitchhiked to Tennessee when I was 19 years old, and it is really beautiful in Tennessee.
Becoming interested in poetics got me interested in theater. Theater is supposed to be poetry, you know, before it's anything else. It just doesn't fly if it isn't musical.
Sonnets are guys writing in English, imitating an Italian song form. It was a form definitely sung as often as it was recited.
I think the singer/songwriter genre is going to be like bluegrass and jazz. You can make a living at it, but it's not part of the musical mainstream anymore.
All we do as songwriters is rewrite the songs that have impressed us till we find our own voice. It's part of learning the craft.
The idea that murder victims' families are best served by continuing the cycle of violence is something that I consider to be not only a lie, but criminally negligent. You lie to victims' families when you tell them they're going to receive closure if they participate in the process and witness the execution of a human being.
I'm a country singer, and I'm comfortable with that. But why does a country singer have to play only on country radio or a rock singer only on a rock station? I still don't understand why it's that big a deal.
I don't care what's happening in the mainstream of country music. I haven't in a long time.
As much as I'd like to think and as much as people mistakenly think my audience is blue collar people in the heart of America, my audience is basically, in the States, an NPR audience. I play college towns in the summer because that's who comes to see me.
Truman Capote is really an interesting cat.
I promise you that I did not become an addict because of anything to do with the behavior of either of my parents. Everybody has to make their own choices.
My son was diagnosed with autism. He's OK, he makes eye contact, but he doesn't talk. He needs eight hours a day of very intensive school, and you wouldn't even believe me if I told you how much it costs.
Actually, in its purest form, Islam is incredibly tolerant. That makes what's going on in the world really bizarre.
I don't usually read reviews.
If I can get Me out of the way, I can do anything.
I think the criticism that I take to heart is from other writers that I respect.
I don't really think in terms of obstacles. My biggest obstacle is always myself.
