Well, the first band was at nine, and I was on the road when I was 12 with the Sullivan Family Gospel Singers.

People shouldn't be punished for their wisdom.

One of the most quotable guys ever in country music was Grandpa Jones.

Merle Haggard once said, 'I'm really mad at Glen Campbell because he's the most talented human being in the world.' That kind of summed it up. Merle didn't miss!

It's hard for a country performer to make a living in a Beatles society.

I learned things by being in Lester Flatts' band, and I learned things by playing with Johnny Cash, and I learned from Pop Staples. I'm a sponge.

I've always been a sucker for a truck driving song.

My local radio station, WHOC, Philadelphia, Mississippi - '1490 on your radio dial, a thousand watts of pure pleasure' - it was a beautiful station. And I loved everything I heard. But it was country music that touched my heart.

I wish I could have been in the control room at Capitol Studio A listening to the playback of 'Wichita Lineman' the first time it came into the atmosphere. It must have been a perfect moment in time.

I love old-time music, I love country music and I love the American music that we have to offer the world. And any part of that is fine with me, as long as it's pure.

Addiction is a crazy disease. It's a progressive disease when it's not dealt with; it don't care who it takes, and it takes it all. You wind up losing your house, your home, your reputation.

If you look back into the Superlatives' body of work, we've always included instrumentals.

Sun Studios was where so much of American music exploded from.

In the middle of Mississippi, so many kinds of music came, but it was Nashville and country music that pulled my heart.

Unconditional love goes a long way.

From the first time I played with Lester Flatt, I sensed an extreme amount of history around me.

The only two jobs I ever had were with Lester Flatt and Johnny Cash.

The history of country music is as important as any other art form.

Going back to the Byrds and 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo,' when country was kind of getting away from the fiddle and steel aspect, it took some rock & rollers to introduce a new generation to it, and it kinda put some things straight.

As big as the industry is now and as gargantuan and stretched out with as many buses and trucks as there are now, it is still a big old dysfunctional family in my mind.

Walking into the Ryman with Lester Flatt was the equivalent of walking into the Vatican with the pope.

When I started making some paychecks, I didn't invest in stocks and bonds - I invested in American culture.

Every time I hear a Garth Brooks record I tend to want to hear James Taylor.

I don't have many regrets in my life. But I have one. I would have stayed sober all along.