I got interested in the idea of music that could make itself in a sense in the mid 1960s really when I first heard composers like Terry Riley and when I first started playing with tape recorders.

First of all the music that people call Latin or Spanish is really African. So Black people need to get the credit for that.

Since I was a kid I've had an absolute obsession with particular kinds of American music. Mississippi Delta blues of the Thirties Chicago blues of the Fifties West Coast music of the mid-Sixties - but I'd never really touched on dark Americana.

I think one of my favorite things to do is just lock myself up in a small room and listen to music and watch films for a day. Also I just like seeing my friends. We have pizza parties which means I get four friends round we eat a pizza and we're really lazy and we play PlayStation.

You can't really imagine music without technology.

Country fans need to support country music by buying albums and concert tickets for traditional artists or the music will just fade away. And that would be really sad.

Anything I do has to be directly related to my music. If it isn't I don't really see a point to it.

Unless I am both capable of and willing to reopen the wound every time I write a song if I choose to not look inside myself to write music I'm really not worth being called an artist at all.

Music itself is going to become like running water or electricity. So it's like just take advantage of these last few years because none of this is ever going to happen again. You'd better be prepared for doing a lot of touring because that's really the only unique situation that's going to be left.

It was Elvis who really got me hooked on beat music. When I heard 'Heartbreak Hotel' I thought this is it.

I think older people can appreciate my music because I really show my heart when I sing and it's not corny. I think I can grow as an artist and my fans will grow with me.

You can't give up something you really believe in for financial reasons. If you die by the roadside - so be it. But at least you know you've tried. Ten minutes in the music scene was the equal of one hundred years outside of it.

I felt I really wanted to back off from music completely and just work within the visual arts in some way. I started painting quite passionately at that time.

I don't want to limit myself musically. It would be really limiting if we'd neglect something we really want to do like explore other styles of music.

I had to resign myself many years ago that I'm not too articulate when it comes to explaining how I feel about things. But my music does it for me it really does.

I feel good about being able to take bluegrass on to television like 'Letterman' and 'The View ' and I've heard nice things about being able to do that. I really haven't felt any negativity toward me or my music.

I get bored easily so I need to do a lot. I've started a record label so I get to nurture new talent and talk about music which is a passion of mine. I've written another book. And I get to come to work and do the TV show which is always really fun.

I'm a visual thinker really bad at algebra. There's others that are a pattern thinker. These are the music and math minds. They think in patterns instead of pictures. Then there's another type that's not a visual thinker at all and they're the ones that memorize all of the sports statistics all of the weather statistics.

Some music really does suck!

I will be really happy once I have done my jail time. I can start fresh.

I love bad movies whereas going to the theater for me is a painful experience. I think it's really hard to sit and watch actors do something live and have it not go well.

I find playwriting really painful. I love it or I wouldn't do it but I don't love the theater as much as I love movies.

Movies either work or they don't work and they're either funny or they're not and we work very hard. To achieve that kind of work is really kind of delicate stitching.

Unfortunately 'chick flick' has become a term to describe most movies that I don't even like. They're these movies that yes have women in them but they really don't reflect who women are and there's something kind of silly or shallow or gossipy about them.