Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
You can be as creative as you want to and build all these cool projects, but ultimately, if they're not successful and you don't have the business structure in place, everything will flop.
If the people that love you are the people at your side on your last day, and there's not a soul in that room that has any bad words to say about you, well, I'd say Heaven awaits you, my friend.
A lot of times, people ask us about being a country band, and we say, 'Well, we're not really a country band.' And we're not knocking country, because we like it, but we don't want to be limited.
I live a life of creating, sharing music with wonderful musicians that I love like family, and spreading a message through music that life is yours to live wide open, and do it your way with love.
I taught guitar lessons for a long time for a living before I got on the road. I really enjoyed hanging out with kids, talking about music with them, and trying to influence them in a positive way.
You don't realize how beautiful an idea is until you do it with other people. There's this really shimmery, awesome thing when you start finishing a song - where the song just starts writing itself.
I basically am the only musician in my family. My aunt plays a little piano, but that's about it. My dad's mother painted and was actually good at it. I do not come from a long line of musicians, though.
I grew up in a really small town in Georgia, so the idea of knowing people who are actors or who are just involved in the Hollywood and movie scenes, that's far beyond anything I ever thought would happen in my life.
I never thought we were a country band in the first place. I think we've gotten ourselves into a place where we don't underestimate our listeners and what potential there is for the music they've heard all their lives.
I've really learned a lot from Zac Brown over the years. He is someone that I consider to be one of my best friends, and besides my parents, he has taught me more than anyone else. Zac is, by nature, a giving and understanding person.
I'm just grateful. I'm grateful for my family, my wife, and our health. I'm grateful to be in a band of brothers that I love so, so, so much. I'm grateful that this magical combination of dudes makes music that people like and moves them.
You think you have the most amazing life by having your dreams come true as a musician and marrying the woman of your dreams. But then you add a lil' baby girl... to the mix, and it's like you've never really lived and loved until she was here.
My goal for children's books is to have them become tableside or bedside classics. To me, it would be awesome to write a book that every kid would end up reading at some point in their life because influencing kids in a positive way at such a young age is really cool.
Duane Allman might be my favorite guitar player ever. I'd say I'm influenced by the Allman Brothers more than any other band. When I taught guitar lessons for a living, the students that were interested in soloing had to learn the intro to 'It's Not My Cross to Bear' first thing.
It's always hard for me to put the pieces together when listening to a finished album that I was a part of writing and playing. There are so many memories wrapped up in each note and each song that it's hard not to constantly flash back to what made that musical event happen while listening.
When I try to be funny, it always makes me more nervous that I'm trying too hard, and then my brain that already thinks too much jumps into hyper drive, and I light-speed start talking 'Star Trek' to someone who's talking 'Star Wars.' Anyway, it doesn't work out usually when I 'try' to be funny.
My mom used to cut out articles from the 'Atlanta Journal Constitution' when I was in high school. She would either give them to me to read or she would post them on the fridge. These articles would usually be stories of someone inventing something, breaking records, or achieving some kind of success.
I grew up as an only child, so inherently, most of my life was centered around me. My parents taught me to play well with others and to share my toys, but I was still an only child who didn't have to share my parent's attention with siblings. As great as my childhood was, I always wanted brothers and sisters.
If you feel like you have no other option in life but to follow your musical path, then do it. If you are talented and focus all your energy on becoming better and furthering your career and never give up, something will happen. I'm not sure what will happen, but it is guaranteed that you will do more than if you didn't do all that.
The coolest thing for me to do was listen to Pearl Jam's 'Ten,' Nirvana's 'Nevermind,' or Soundgarden and play along to it and think about how awesome it would be to be in one of those bands and be up on stage. When I'd close my eyes at 13 and dream of being in Pearl Jam or one of those bands, it was exactly like how it is now with the band I'm in.