The worst thing for me when I go to a concert is a whole bunch of ballads. You get bored.

School was very important to me ,and music was what kept me coming back.

I've known Tiger since he was 18. Tiger is a great guy. I am so happy for him right now.

I'm a kid who grew up in an all African-American neighborhood and got into schools and aspired to just be me, and didn't worry about labels or anything. Just wanted to be a success at what I did.

One of the things that I'm dying to do is to sing the hook on a big rap song.

With 'Wagon Wheel,' I loved the visual it painted, and it's a song I can truly say I look forward to performing every night.

I used to love watching 'Hee Haw' on TV when I was a kid. My brothers and sisters weren't happy about it, but I just loved the music.

I got turned onto the 'Pat Garrett' soundtrack when I worked retail back in the day.

Remember the Stax label and how if you liked one record, you liked all the others as well? You don't talk to a lot of people who tell you how much they love their record label. I don't care how many records they sell.

You always wanna make the best record you ever made, and if I feel like I didn't do that, I wouldn't put it out.

I plan to make records as long as people wanna keep listening to them.

One of my pet peeves is when people think that pop guys go country when they can't make it in pop anymore.

When I was growing up, I always knew that if I ever got anything, I was going to give back as much as I can. I learned that all you have to be willing to do is give your time.

Ice Cube is doing so great. He went from being this hardcore gangster rapper to this actor now. He's doing children's movies and all this stuff - he's rocking it.

We went to church every Sunday. When I was a kid, the only time I sang was around my family.

I'm pretty sure I'm gonna stick with country until I ride off in the sunset.

I'm lucky my wife is a strong woman. She's one of the stronger people I've ever met. It's hard for me to be away, but I know my home life is fine because my wife is there.

There's two times of year for me: Football season, and waiting for football season.

There is too much employer-employee relationship in America. I wish the musicians would feel that many decisions have to do with them and not delegate everything to management or to the board or to the committee. This is why you get a sense of pride in some of the European orchestras: because they are part of the decision-making.

There are many wonderful orchestras in the world, but very few who have a character or personality of their own. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is one of them, and I think it very important to recognize and respect that character.

I am convinced that 100 years from now, people will talk about Elliott Carter as one of the most important figures in the second half of 20th-century music.

For me personally, Elliott Carter was and remains one of the most meaningful composers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries because he represents substance. He was the living proof of uncompromising, complex music, which at first seems inaccessible. But it becomes accessible if one digs in and sees the development through.

On Nov. 5, 2012, my friend Elliott Carter died in New York at the age of 103. For me, he was and remains one of the most interesting figures of music history in the past century.

The historical importance of a composer does not always go hand in hand with the quality of their work.