Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
That's part of it: You can't be a country singer-songwriter if you've never had an official heartbreak.
He doesn't know how to be warmer. I can't blame him. My dad had to deal with more stuff than I ever did.
In reality, I never even got to have a Hank Williams instrument. I got a tie, a fishing lure and a check.
I was like, 'I'm never gonna do country, I'm never gonna give in, you'll never see me wear a cowboy hat.'
The biggest production show I went to with my step-dad and my mom was Adam Ant when I was probably eleven.
George Jones, Johnny Paycheck all them dudes they're respected and they were twice as crazy as I'll ever be.
Animals have always been therapeutic for me to work with; they help me get me grounded from being on the road.
If I was just a country singer, I wouldn't be near as cool and I wouldn't have nowhere near as cool of a fan base.
My mom was always playing Elvis around the house or ZZ Top, so there was always rock-n-roll and country being played.
I could put in garage doors or work in McDonald's but that's it. So I figured I might as well play the Nashville game.
Mike Patton is my mentor, and he releases two to five records a year with many different bands, and he gets stuff done.
Pop country is about being so clean and perfect and not having any rough edges or imperfections. It's all manufactured.
Maybe one day the old guys will die off and things will change, 'cuz it's officially getting scary over here in America.
It's really tough - if you're on a major label and they want you to have a number one song, you need to do what they say.
I've always had that feeling for the dark side, for the anger and the hate-rock. The music is just the way I deal with it.
When I'm feeling awful, music is the only thing that releases the pressure. It's been the best psychiatrist I've ever had.
My whole game plan, at first, was I wanted to rock out as hard as I could because usually you're old by the time you're 24.
Unless you can't take care of yourself or stuff like that, I'm always standin' for you to hold onto life as much as you can.
To me, country music is emotions, certain harmonies. But it's all in the emotions - a lot of good times, a lot of hard times.
I've never left for New York. I've stood my ground here my whole career and hopefully will be able to until the day that I die.
Politics and music should only mix to a point. Me, I think my job as a musician is to make people try to forget about all that.
A one-night stand that waited three years to tell me I had a son. I needed cash flow fast, It was time to get into the business.
If Hank Williams had lived any longer, his name would have been one of the most hated in the land. Nashville would have dug him deep.
My country stuff, it might sound like Hank Williams - that's just the way it is. But I'd rather sound like Hank Williams than Trace Atkins.
Balance is always tough with the kind of shows and my work ethic and all of that, but that definitely helps me do what I do in the big picture.
The rush of creating sounds and mixing sounds is always an interesting challenge, especially for someone like me, who doesn't know about sound.
I take pride in the fact that a guy and a gal can come to my show, have a couple of beers and still go home with a little money in their pockets.
I'm here to be lovesick, broke and drifting, writing heartache songs and singing about pain and misery and depression, with a few good times here and there.
My relationship with my dad will always be strained, but that just goes to show, I guess, that I'm doin' a pretty good job of bein' myself, and bein' a rebel.
Over the years, Cajun music has always calmed me down, or if I'm feeling real sick or feeling real unsettled, I can put that music on and try to get focused again.
I'm the kind of guy if you ask me a question I'll tell you the truth if it's hurting me or not. If it's good or bad, I'll cut to the chase and that's the way it is.
There's a lot of different moods that come across in my shows. Even when I'm playing a slow waltz song, sometimes there's crowd-surfing. Most of the time there's a mosh pit.
The vocals are the very last thing I do. So, it's kinda the opposite: with country. it's singing and guitar first, but with rock, I worry about the riff and music, vocals last.
There's only one Hank Williams, man. Singing that high-voiced style, them bluegrassers, I don't see how they do it - Jimmy Martin, Bill Monroe - it's just a natural thing, man.
My grandfather always sang about the light, and for some reason, I don't know why, it even goes back to when I was seven, eight years old, I've always been attracted to the dark.
In a way, being raised on the farm and doing chores and stuff it's a natural thing for me to want to work outside. It's almost kind of like a rehabilitation for me with doing that.
I always do my show and say hello. And a lot of people are standing around waiting to shake my hand and say thanks for, A, letting me talk to you, and letting me feel a part of what you do.
The name alone usually attracts about 50 or so curiosity seekers to the show. We know if we're playing the Policeman's Ball or something to have the proper respect, but we like to get rowdy.
And I flirted with the devil and he dealt me a card. He told me that you will never win. So I sold my soul to the devil. I never thought it could be this bad. And I got the devil takin' me away
I could have took the easy way and just been a cowboy, looking good, trying to make my money off Hank Williams and being this clean-cut guy. But I always wanted to be myself and go against the grain.
I have a love of gear and pedals, from old pedals to new ones with new sounds. If I get depressed, I start looking for a certain type of pedal, learn the history, who and what it was made for, that kinda thing.
Minneapolis, in general, has been there with me since the beginning. They made me feel important before I really even had a foundation. I think a lot of it has to do with it's such an intense music city in its own right.
If I'm opening up for George Jones or playing a complete honky-tonk, I do true country music. But if it's a complete rock club, I'll do some country and a little bit of this hillbilly acoustic country metal or whatever it's called.
For someone like me, if I ever had huge success or whatever that is, I would just play smaller venues two to three nights in a row just to keep the intimacy level there and that's my take on it, but it just depends what you're going for.
I've never gone to school for recording. I wish I understood it more. School's been hard, learning things has been hard, because of the A.D.H.D., or dyslexia, or whatever you want to call it, but I know how to come up with stuff to bring it together.
Not everybody is going to like what I do or get what I do. With as much positive, you always get the negative to deal with. I get that as well. Most of the time, I'm very honored to have a fan base that they react to my songs. My songs speak to a lot of them.
Hank Williams, Hank Jr. and myself, if you check your history, you'll see that they've always played in rowdy environments. Part of that is a lot of people are coming to forget their problems and not being told what to do for a couple of hours and not try to have anything sold to them or pushed on them.
Every year is different. I'm not getting any younger trying to keep it going. It's always a challenge. It's like a boxer going into a ring. You never can tell what's going to work and what's not going to work until you're in action and everything is going on around you. It's very intense and always a challenge and always a thrill.
If I'm playing country, I gotta have my country hat and my cowboy boots. I gotta have a voice, and the third thing, I gotta have I guess a little music to keep me in the right mind, a little pre-show something to get ya going. Lots of AC/DC, or I'll sit on youtube and find all kinds of stuff before we take the stage to get pumped up.
One of the reasons I sing so much about smoking or drinking isn't about the addiction, but more so that I'm trying to let people have a good time at my shows and forget their problems. Relax and enjoy. There's not certain religions or politics sold on them. Just come out, have a beer, have a laugh, good energy from stage and have a good time.