The most miraculous process is watching a song go from a tiny idea in the middle of the night to something that 55,000 people are singing back to you.
I've always written songs the same way. You learn different tricks - you learn craft, you learn structure, all that - as you go.
When I was about 3, my grandfather used to give me and my sister a nickel to sit out on the front porch with him and sing songs.
I wish I had a nickel for every song that I've left in the bathroom, written down on a matchbox, or just totally forgotten about.
It's always a mixture of fiction and your own story. It's more I recreate atmospheres and moods through songs.
When a song came on the radio that I wanted to learn, my mother would quickly write down the lyrics for me. Soon after, I would be singing it.
I sing songs that I have lived or I write them because I have lived them. I think the believability factor is key.
My career was really odd, because I literally had a greatest hits album out and nobody knew who I was. They knew the songs, but they didn't know me.
My first performance was in AP Calculus when they forced me up into the front of the classroom and made me sing a song, which was really scary, but it was fun.
If you look at my last songs and first short stories, there is a real connection between them.
I always choose songs that I have an emotional connection to, and I often feel myself getting very emotional when I sing.
It's weird, because the ideas in my songs aren't controversial to me. I feel like I should be able to sing about anything.
Just seeing people appreciate what you do, come out and support it, and sing the songs back, there's not a better feeling in the world.
I don't write songs thinking about formats, where is it going to get played, who am I gonna please, what's the outlet for it.
It is important that the audience should understand every syllable of every word, for only then can they grasp the meaning of the song.
'Dirt Road Diaries,' in my mind, is a perfect country guy song. It speaks to the hard-working guy, and I'm excited for the fans to hear that one.
I made my first song when I was 9 years old. Just beating on garbage cans, having people beat box.
Most of our stuff was trial and error. You live with a tape recorder, you turn it on, you play the song and you listen to it.
Why only one song, one speech, one text at a time?" - "When Our Lips Speak Together
Dweezil and I are going on tour with the band probably starting in the middle of February for a month probably playing a few songs from my new record and then I'll continue on after that tour.
I've been lucky to be able to make the records I've wanted to make. The record company has never pressured me to cut certain songs.
