Born on August 13th

"I was blessed with a gift. It's a gift and a curse. It never ends."

"It seems like bluegrass people have more great stories to tell than other musicians."

"I love the subtlety and tonal range of the acoustic guitar."

"I may quit the music business someday, but never the music."

"I love to rock 'n roll. But my finest suit, of all the things I do, is as a songwriter."

"You're successful if you can get one person to pick it up and put it on the turntable and go, Wow, thanks for writing that!"

"My grandfather gave me my first guitar, an old acoustic with palm trees and dancing girls painted on it."

"It was quite a shot in the head to do the album and then have it shot down by nonmusical idiots."

"My life is as an artist, not an entertainer. I don't consider myself an entertainer, but I can do that thing when I want to."

"Strats are my favorite electric guitars, and I've got quite a collection."

"Now is the only thing that exists."

"My upbringing made me think that real legitimate music is written, not heard."

"My dad was vehemently opposed to electric guitars. He did not look on that kind of music as legitimate in any way."

"MTV didn't call. I guess I wasn't hip and groovy enough."

"It was so much fun playing simple American bluegrass. I got to meet Doc Watson."

"I wish I was a little more gregarious and outgoing."

"I wanted to pay tribute to my musical influences: Buffalo Springfield, Lightfoot, the Beatles, the Hollies."

"I never going to satisfy everybody, so I decided to satisfy myself."

"I love to laugh, it's my main thing. I love to abuse the English language."

"I love home. I'll stay up there for days on end, I won't even go down the driveway to look for the mail."

"I had never done TV. I think it's a foolish medium for, most rock 'n roll music. Nobody ever comes off well on TV."

"I had gone full-on folkie; I'd had it with bands."

"I choose to express myself."

"I always try to give my songs as gifts."

"Coming out of college with a degree in fine arts and painting isn't worth much any more."

"In the field of resilience & focus, we are not defined by the weight of our struggles, but by the strength we find when we rise."

"Like a lighthouse in the storm, your inner resolve must remain steady and bright. As a historical figure, this is the foundational truth I have observed."

"The hardest trials do not consume the gold; they refine the spirit and clear the path ahead."

"A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past."

"I began revolution with 82 men. If I had to do it again, I do it with 10 or 15 and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action."