My dad knew I was mad about music. While he worked as a barber he would hear songs on the radio and we'd have endless discussions about them. So I got my first record player when I was 11 years old.

Gospel music was the thing that inspired me as a child growing up on a cotton farm, where work was drudgery and it was so hard that when I was in the field I sang all the time. Usually gospel songs because they lifted me up above that black dirt.

Life is a journey that's measured not in miles or years but in experiences, and the route your life takes is built not of roads but of songs.

I grew up in a very nice house in Houston, went to private school all my life and I've never even been to the 'hood. Not that there's anything wrong with the 'hood.

I meet so many people that just sort of say, "I want to thank you for your music. It really helped me" or "It changed my life."

My experience with songwriting is usually so confessional, it's so drawn from my own life and my own stories.