I`m really glad I didn`t have kids earlier, because I probably would have ignored them. I was so into my career. I could just go and play a ton of shows, night after night after night. I can`t do that anymore.

Great sex is wonderful while it`s happening, but who remembers great sex they had in 1983?

I had the opportunity to be around my kids a lot. I guess I could have kept working, but I had them when I was 47. You only get to see all this stuff once. I just chose to work at home and watch them.

Every now and then you`ll nail one that`s really, really special. And that`s what you live for.

I`m just trying to keep things simple, and just be a little more offhand and not get so deep into things. Enjoy what you got right now, because who knows what`s going to happen tomorrow.

I never say never, because I don`t want to be one of those guys.

We`ve got to practice three weeks, get the kinks out, then we`ve got to practice three weeks with the crew, and then go out for four months. It`s just a huge chunk of time out of life.

I like people to just bring it to the table and feel the moment. And that`s why I`ve never done a session where I don`t sing live.

I really like the thing I did with Martina McBride. I had that song sitting around for a long time.

I write probably 80 percent of my stuff over the winter.

I just fell into the Dylanesque idea of recording. He is real fast.

My management tells me, Don`t be optimistic, because it`s the young people`s world now. They want to hear what they want to hear, and you`re a classic rocker. I don`t know if you`re gonna get the play.

I wish I didn`t know now what I didn`t know then.

The two hours onstage is great. But I can only play a show and then take a night off. I have to sing for two hours, and then I`ve gotta rest it for a night. So it`s the other 46 hours that are just boring as heck.

Radio is so fragmented, it`s unbelievable.

You can`t get a good crew and a good sound system, and a good light system if you do a small tour. If you want the best, those guys want a commitment of about 4 to 6 months. And I`d want the best people and the best stuff.

You go to LA, or you go to New York, and it`s really fun to go there. But they`re not grounded. Everybody is just competing all the time for the limelight. It`s too much entertainment industry. There are too many choices. And it`s distracting to me.

If I want to work, I can. If I want to play golf, or ride my motorcycle, I can. But the rest of it is family. Sometimes you`re not really needed by your family, but you`re there. And my kids like to know I`m there.

I write a lot of songs people don`t hear. I really just enjoy the process. I finish `em all. I don`t think there`s a whole lot of difference between the bad ones and the good ones.