“If you want something to play with go find yourself a toy, baby, my time is too expensive and I’m not a little boy.”

My friends and I were wild and we liked to joy-ride.

I’ve been in some beautiful places, but the prettiest sight is flying back to New Orleans. Being able to look down and say, ‘I know where I am now.’

I don’t know much, but I know I love you… that may be all there is to know.

So I went in front of the judge, and I had my St. Jude prayer book in my pocket and my St. Jude medal. And I’m standing there and that judge said I was found guilty, so he sentenced me to what the law prescribed: one to 14 years.

It’s a thanksgiving to God. It’s something I have wanted to do for a long time, but the record company wasn’t ready for it. So I did it myself.

I sing around the house, in the shower

When you were a kid, a day was a long time and a year was a long time

Sometimes I sing along in the car, if something good is playing like Marvin Gaye.

Don’t be ashamed to let your conscience be your guide.

I really like listening to music in my car.

It’s a 360-degree sound experience. Like you’re in the middle of the band. A lot of people have the technology to play the format, so why not put it out there. It sounds great.

Until I went to rehab, I didn’t understand what it did.

I was raised Catholic, but my father’s people were Methodist, so we went to both churches.

My voice belongs to me, from God. People will comment, “Your voice helped me through.” Maybe it’s God in me, because I don’t take credit for that.

Me and my partners had been stealing cars for a while.

I owe it all to Jesus.

People don’t understand the kind of fight it takes to record what you want to record the way you want to record it.

Knowing record labels and knowing the kinds of things they would object to-they just object to everything that’s interesting.

If you’re an artist trying to put out your own record on your own label, it’s hard to get a distribution deal because no one wants to sign a deal with one entity.

I consider Laura to be one of my best signings, and I am proud to have had such a great singer in my career in the record business. We miss her dearly.

When I was 15 I became a full-time singer in a band. At 18 I made my first record.

When I record, it feels like I’m in a bubble. There’s nothing else in my head right then.

At the end of the day, you’re just phonograph records.

There’s a lot of people over time who have brought out all these funky records that everybody has started jumping on like a catch phrase.