I never travel without my Stetson but the more I wear it the more I realise that no one wears hats any more. When I was a kid everybody wore hats especially in Texas but I get off the plane in Dallas now and I'm the only guy with a hat. It's amazing.

Stevie Ray Vaughan was very intense. Maybe that's what caught everybody's attention. As a player he didn't do anything amazing.

I believe in capitalism for everybody not necessarily high finance but capitalism that works for the working men and women of this country who are out there paddling alone in America right now.

There's great sadness and life doesn't work out like you would want on a lot of levels but there's no need to feel all alone. This happens to everybody so there's no self-pity. This is the ride that humans are on and all of it is essential for our natural part of it.

Why can't everybody leave everybody else the hell alone.

I'd like to state that Spike Lee is not saying that African American culture is just for black people alone to enjoy and cherish. Culture is for everybody.

Weird people follow you in the streets you can't sit alone in a restaurant or a cafe and read a book in peace and I think everybody values those moments of being alone.

It's kind of awkward to eat alone in a restaurant because everybody's looking at me.

But there comes a moment in everybody's life when he must decide whether he'll live among the human beings or not - a fool among fools or a fool alone.

The artist alone sees spirits. But after he has told of their appearing to him everybody sees them.

I mean I've always been a libertarian. Leave everybody alone. Let everybody else do what they want. Just stay out of everybody else's hair.

If you're going to put yourself above everybody else you might end up alone.

I grew up on a farm in a small town where you do or say one thing and everybody knows about it. You see it happen there's always the town gossip - 'Oh did you hear about so and so or did you hear what went on in this household?' So I learned at a very young age just to keep my mouth shut.

With the song 'This Christmas' I wanted to do something that was kind of different. I mean Donny Hathaway is an amazing artist. So I wanted to bring my flavor to the song so when people over the age of 45 or 50 hear it they'll be like 'OK he did his thing with that record.' It's like I can appeal to everybody and not just a younger demographic.

There's also some element of coming of age during the Reagan administration which everybody has painted as some glorious time in America but I remember as being a very very dark time. There was apocalypse in the air the punk rock movement made sense.

Everybody looks like clones and the only people you notice are my age. I don't notice anybody unless they look great and every now and again they do and they are usually 70.

Age gives you a great sense of proportion. You can be very hard on yourself when you're younger but now I just think 'well everybody's absolutely mad and I'm doing quite well'.

Everybody past a certain age regardless of how they look on the outside pretty much constantly dreams of being able to escape from their lives.

I'm at peace with myself and where I am. In the past I was always looking to see how everybody else was doing. I wasn't competitive I was comparative. I just wanted to be where everybody else was. Now I've gotten to an age when I am not comparing anymore.