My first song was 'So Sick,' which was my first number one as an artist, and I turned the mic around to the crowd, and they sang the whole song. Every lyric. That was my first experience with the power of music.
Sometimes I do a Dylan song and it seems to fit me so right that I figure maybe I wrote it. Dylan didn’t always do it for me as a singer, not in the early days, but then I started listening to the lyrics. That sold me.
Let the music speak to us of tonight, in a happier language than our own.
I've been writing music since 4th grade, and I love putting words together and expressing things in a way that you can move your head to and you can really relate to, because I have a lot to say.
With rock and metal, I think a lot of people connect with the lyrics because they feel like they don't fit in.
If I don't write a song, I only record it when it's played for me for the first time and I connect to it, am empowered by it, and have a deep connection to the lyrics.
Mad World' was easy for me to sing because I could relate to Roland's lyrics. We were both the middle of three sons and had been brought up by single mothers with absent fathers.
I feel blessed to travel the world and land in a place where, when I sing my songs, they sing along with every word.
It turned out so well because it was the first album that I could identify with in terms of lyrics. ("Captain Fantastic") It was passionate...I could associate myself with every song...It's a unique album in our history. This was the story of us..."Curtains", the lyrics to that are so beautiful because it sums up our friendship so much, and our relationship.
I feel like boys listen to my music. They just don't like to admit it, but I go hard. But yeah, I feel like I go really hard, so why not listen to me? Anybody could relate to my music, honestly.
I would be on dates with guys, and the radio would be on, and if the Moody Blues song came on I couldn't concentrate on the guy; I would go straight into the music.
That's why we do this. In country music, we do this for this very reason... to impact people lyrically, to be a part of their lives.
The bedrock thing of country music is, it's about storytelling. I feel like I was able to find a niche because I connected to that in some way.
