I always wanted to grow up fast. I longed for more than the Mississippi Delta could give.

For most entertainers, there is a single experience, one defining moment, when confidence replaces the self-doubt that most of us wrestle with.

The tastes of country music fans are not limited to the narrow range defined by consultants and programmers and record company moguls.

It used to be that if you had a pretty good record, you could stop by a station in Little Rock or Atlanta and let the DJ listen to it. No way something like that can happen now.

The time I spent thinking about how I was better than somebody else or worrying about somebody else's attitude was time I could put to better use.

I finally came to terms with manic depression and lithium. I've taken lithium regularly for the past few years and have had no further bouts with manic depression.

Fans are what make a performer and I've always taken them seriously.

A fan will grab you and hug you and will not let go. When that happens, you wish it could be that way all over the world.

There only have been two people on this earth that I was nervous around: Chet Atkins and Mickey Mantle. It's because of the respect I have for them.

No one had ever told me that whites were supposed to sing one kind of music and blacks another - I sang what I liked in the only voice I had.

I learned to tune a guitar by ear. That method has served me pretty well.

Is it folly to believe in something that is intangible? After all, some of the greatest intangibles are Love, Hope, and Wonder.Another is Deity.The choice to be a fool is yours.

Now Robby…he’s who you should be with, ” she said, as if on cue with my thoughts. I tried not to roll my eyes.

It's a relationship I went through that collapsed my entire view of the world in a very extreme way.

Life is too short to drink the house wine.

Style in painting is the same as in writing,-a power over materials, whether words or colors.

Keep your money in the first place. Let's make our companies competitive and let's make good business decisions dominate their decision making, not what's good for Washington carve outs.

If you look at some of the people in the Hall of Fame, my numbers are compatible.

I've always been told that women know everything. Is that not accurate?

It's pretty lonely and sad to be single. Every night was the same for me, I'd go home and curl up in bed with my favorite book. Well, actually it was a magazine.

Sometimes the very thing you're looking for is the one thing you cannot see.