Q: You’ve been coming back to perform in Columbus for several years. You seem to have a special connection to this town. What is it?
A: Well, I’ve known Buddy [Nelms, owner of The Loft] since about 1991 or 92. He invited me to come play at Columbus Day Street Festival around the time he was opening The Loft. It was a few months after I left Ft. Benning. I still had my high and tight. I made some great friends here – Matthew Kahler, Keni Thomas. I’ve always found good friends here and it’s still a good club. I like to play in a place where it makes sense to play, you know?
Q: When you were a kid, what did you dream about being when you grew up?
A: A musician. In school I always wished I was somewhere else, but I always knew I wanted to play music. I didn’t know if I was going to be famous, but I knew I would be playing and that’s always been what’s most important. It was weird when I got famous, the whole experience made me uncomfortable. I really just wanted to be a regular guy. I was no longer an observer, but the one being observed.
Q: How did you get into music?
A: My grandfather played upright bass in a big band and I would go see him play. My dad had a great record collection and my brother and sister played guitar. I was five or six years younger than them so I grew up hearing them play too. It seemed like a natural progression from hearing music to wanting to play the music I heard to wanting to write my own music.
Q: After that point, how did you further your music education?
A: I never had guitar lessons. I sang in chorus in high school. My chorus teacher taught me to sing right, you know, like not hurt myself and to breathe right. When I was 14 or 15 I was singing in competitions. I went to North Georgia College in Dahlonega to study music. Actually, I majored in Chorale Conducting.
Q: What do you consider your musical roots?
A: All American music, I guess. The singer-songwriters, country, soul, R&B, Southern music, especially the stuff out of Texas.
Q: What was the first album you bought with your own money?
A: Atlanta Rhythm Section, “Champagne Jam”
Q: Was it vinyl or cassette?
A: It was vinyl and it cost a dollar. I got it at Turtles, which was a record store in Atlanta where I grew up. I think it’s a chain but I don’t know if they ever had one here [in Columbus].
Q: Your writing often tells other people’s stories. What kind of stories interest you?
A: I tend to connect with hardship. That’s what moves me – the human condition and pain is what makes me want to write. I’ve had depression since I was a kid and not really known why. Writing is therapy to me.
Q: How does your writing reflect you and your life experiences?
A: My own pain is woven into my stories of other people. At least I think it is. I hope it is. I just try to make good by my songs. I guess the bottom line is that I try to tell the truth.
Q: Who do you bounce new ideas off of when you’re writing?
A: My wife. Other writers. Chuck Cannon is always going to be straight up with me. He’s a damn good songwriter himself. I also try my new stuff out on audiences and see by their reaction if I communicated the right way. I want the essence of truth – I guess the feeling it makes you have – to get across. You can tell that by their reactions.
Q: Last time you were here you called “Lullaby” a “medley of my greatest hit.” Were you expecting the commercial success of that song?
A: When I recorded it I thought it sounded like something a lot of people would like. But there’s a lot more to having a hit than recording a song. That’s just the first step. There are a lot of steps that have nothing to do with the artist or writer. People believed in it and put a lot of money into it. It’s kind of like I won the lottery with that one. I guess it’s better to have a lot of success with one hit song than to have no success with any song.
Q: After “Lullaby” hit the charts and you hit the big time, what was the first thing you bought?
A: Two houses.
Q: You’re in your second decade as a professional musician. In this time, what is the biggest lesson you’ve learned?
A: I’m about at the end of my second decade – it’s been what – about 19 years now. The big lesson changes constantly but I think right now it would be to always be yourself. It’s easy to want to be someone else but you’ve got to find your own voice. I think that goes for more than just songwriting. My record company wanted me to write more songs just like “Lullaby” but I didn’t feel the need to do that. I’m not good at target writing. I just write what I write.
Q: How do you see your career developing over the next few years?
A: Well, my wife is pregnant with our first baby. That was a surprise but it’s great. I’ve been playing over 200 shows a year and I want to slow down. I want the kid to know me and I want to know him or her. I don’t mean I want to stop touring but I’d like to be choosier with what dates I play and not just say yes to everything. I’d like to do more writing for other people. That’s an easier living and it’s more money than touring.
Q: You’ve collaborated with artists in the past. Do you have any planned in the future?
A: Part of songwriting is a feeling of community. I long for that. Any kind of collaboration is wonderful. I usually work on two or three collaborations a month and with a lot of unknowns who haven’t quite “made it” yet, whatever that means. Some songwriters pump out 300-400 songs a year but I try to write about 30-40. I think you’ve got to stick with a song. The first draft is never right. Usually it takes till the 4th or 5th writing till I get it the way I want it. Though sometimes you can beat a song to death and that’s not good.
Q: If you could work with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be?
A: Johnny Cash. I would have loved to have the chance to write or produce something with him. I’ve worked with Kris Kristofferson but that was more friendly-situation. We’d swap songs. People like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, they’re really important. I’ve already worked with cool people like Billy Joel and Elton John – huge rockstars. That was nice but I don’t feel the need to do that again. I think it’s more the creative process that important instead of the name of the person you’re working with.
Q: What music moves you?
A: Good music. There’s really no one type. I like old jazz, blues, but I also like heavy metal, punk, hip-hop. I guess it comes down to the song itself. If I like the song then I like that kind of music.
Q: What’s in your CD player right now?
A: Actually, nothing. Nothing is in my CD player. I tend not to listen to other music when I’m writing. I have a real sensitive ear and I’ll pick up everything I hear. I don’t want to accidentally rewrite anyone else’s song. Before that though, I was listening to Buddy Miller. Have you heard of him? I guess he’s Americana but he’s hard to type. I think that’s my favorite kind of music – music that you can’t easily put a label on, and Danielle Howle. She’s from South Carolina. She sings about real stuff. I was listening to her a lot before I stopped listening too.
Q: What do you do with your time outside of music?
A: I’m training my beagle and it’s almost impossible. My last dog was easy. He was a beagle mixed with something, some kind of bird dog maybe. He was on the road with me for seventeen years and such a good dog. He was part beagle so I got this new dog. I figured he’d be a good dog but he’s a pain in my ass, I mean I love that dog, but he’s a pain in my ass. I’m not sure if he’s stupid or just stubborn.
Q: Lastly, and completely random, if you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be and why?
A: That’s a real good question. Tom Waits.
Q: Why?
A: I don’t know. I think he’d be an interesting cat to chat with about everyday stuff. From his music and his interviews he seems like a kindred spirit. He seems like he would be a funny guy.
