American Country Singers

"Bill, in some ways, he was very inarticulate about his feelings. In other ways, he was very profound about his feelings. And when you got him into a certain mood where he was being more introspective, he really could be very profound, I felt."

"After Charlie [Charlie Monroe, Bill's brother] and me broke up, I was searching for a name for my group. And I wanted a name from the state of Kentucky. Before I come to WSM in Nashville - I started on WWNC, Asheville - why, I'd already decided on using the name "bluegrass," because that's what they'd call Kentucky, the Blue Grass State. So I just used "Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys," and that let people throughout the country know I was from Kentucky, saved a lot of people from having to ask me where I was from. Governor Ford, he claims I've done more than any one man for Kentucky - every time I use the word "bluegrass" it leads back to the state."

"It ain't only the colored folks has the blues; there's many a white man that's had 'em."

"(When asked who the three finest old time guitarists were) Well, I would have to pick Travis, you know; I think he's a great man with his music, and there's been many a man that's copied from Merle. You know, they say he learned from a man in Kentucky. Well, I know this Mose Rager he learned from, he learned from Arnold Shultz, the man I speak of, a colored man, in playing the blues. So I think it all leads back to this old colored man back in Kentucky."

"While he and his idol, Hank Williams, have both affected generations with a plaintive veracity of voice that has set them apart, Jones has an additional gift—a voice of exceptional range, natural elegance, and lucent tone. Gliding toward high tenor, plunging toward deep bass, the magisterial portamento of his onward-coursing baritone emits white-hot sparks and torrents of blue, investing his poison love songs with a tragic gravity and inflaming his celebrations of the honky-tonk ethos with the hellfire of abandon."

"I would give anything if I could sing like George Jones."

"Jones is the man behind what might be the greatest country song since 1980 with “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” He’s influenced everyone from Waylon Jennings to Alan Jackson and is respected by some of the greatest musicians of all time (Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, etc.)."

"The greatest thing since sliced bread."

"When people ask me who my favorite country singer is, I say, 'You mean besides George Jones?"

"If we could all sound like we wanted to, we’d sound like George Jones."

"That ain't no part of nothin'."

"It's never been for love of money. I thank God for it because it makes me a living. But I sing because I love it, not because of the dollar signs."

"There are questions I'm still not wise enough to answer, just wise enough to no longer ask."

"I couldn't think or eat nothin' unless it was Hank Williams, and I couldn't wait for his next record to come out. He had to be, really, the greatest."

"I've seen hate change many things for the worse. I've seen love change everything for the good."

"Maybe some folks are alcoholics and others are just voluntary drunks. Maybe some folks drink due to body chemistry and others due to their lazy characters. Maybe some have drinking problems, while others have problems enough to drink."

"I took my $100,000 and bought a new Corvette, a lot of cocaine, and spent the rest on foolishness."

"The main thing is to make up your mind. If you're going to do it, do it, and if you're just going to halfway do it don't even try. This is a very demanding thing. I stay simple, I didn't get a whole lot of education, so most of it's just coming from what I gathered up. If you stay honest we've all got in common that we're all different. If you stay real deadly honest and write about some very interesting things then you'll be a good one. A lot of people just don't like to get honest but it's the cheapest psychiatrist there is. I think that's the way to look at it."

"Hopefully things will work out where we become friends enough so that he gives me back my bullet."

"I look to bop till I drop. That's what I want to do. I want to go out on the road [...]I love to travel and I couldn't afford to do it if it wasn't for this."

"I churched it and churched it. I got born again, slowly. I've slid back several times, but it seemed like it don't matter. God will give you seven times 70 a chance. I've pushed it to the limit a time or two."

"I've been in trouble most of my life. No stealing or anything like that, just fights. It's all fights."

"Most of the things I write are things that are personal to me. I realized that that's the only way to really be honest. If you go writing about someone else you're just guessing at it."

"I think maybe I was born to be a songwriter. It's quite a comfort. I wrote most of my songs to stay alive, the rest to get back in the house."

"I'm a serious guy, and hungry, too."

"You're more than another, there could never be another. To make you feel the way you do. Ohh, we just get closer. I'd fall in love all over. Every time I look at you. I don't know where I'd be, without you here with me. Life with you makes perfect sense, my best friend."

"I had a barbecue stain on my white T-shirt. She was killin' me in that mini-skirt. Skipping rocks on the river by the railroad tracks. She had a suntan line and red lipstick. I work so hard for that first kiss and a heart don't forget, something like that."

"The urge to run, the restlessness. The heart of stone I sometimes get. The things I've done for foolish pride. The me that's never satisfied. That face that's in the mirror. When I don't like what I see. I guess that's just the cowboy in me."

"Just to see you smile, I'd do anything. That you wanted me to when all is said and done. I'd never count the cost. It's worth all that's lost. Just to see you smile."

"I like it, I love it, I want some more of it. I try so hard, I can't rise above it. Don't know what it is 'bout that little gal's lovin', but I like it, I love it, I want some more of it."

"I'm gonna live where the green grass grows, watch my corn pop up in rows. Every night, be tucked in close to you. Raise our kids where the good Lord's blessed. Point our rocking chairs towards the west. Plan our dreams where the peaceful river flows. Where the green grass grows."

"Now it feels like no one ever left me out in the rain, cold words still remain unspoken. And I never got lost, spent years in the dark. You're here, now my heart's unbroken. When I see you smile, fill my soul again, and I'm unbroken."

"You can have a lot of fun in a New York minute. But there's some things you can't do inside those city limits. Ain't no closing time, ain't no cover charge. Just country boys and girls gettin' down on the farm."

"I'm down here in Mexico, sick as a dog. My head is poundin' in this border town fog. Down to my last dime and comin' apart at the seams. I've messed up in Mexico, livin' on refried dreams."

"She's my kind of rain, hey, hey-hey. Like love from a drunken sky-aye-yai-yai. Confetti falling down on mine. She's my kind of rain."

"I may be a real bad boy, but baby, I'm a real good man."

"And all I wanna do is let it be and be with you and watch the wind blow by. And all I wanna see is you and me go on forever like the clear blue sky. Slowly, there's only you and I. And all I wanna do is watch the wind blow by."

"I'll always be a fan of ol' stray dogs and guitars playin'. One room churches, back road walks and front porch swingin'. Sunset skies, bonfire nights, I love the simple things. That's how I'll always be."

"Hold the door, say please, say thank you. Don't steal, don't cheat, and don't lie. I know you got mountains to climb, but always stay humble and kind. When the dreams you're dreamin' come to you. When the work you put in is realized. Let yourself feel the pride, but always stay humble and kind."

"Kisses sweeter than Tupelo honey. Little bit crazy like New Orleans. Memphis blue and Daytona sunny. Soft as cotton in some cut-off jeans. Don't you know, ain't nothing in the whole wide world like a Southern girl."

"She slides in and you rode down Main Street, you turn right when that red light turns green. Sun sets now, you're half way to heaven. She picks a song, you turn it up to 11, you say "Do you wanna?" and she says "Hell yeah." So you hit the party, all your buddies are jealous. Someday, you'll be looking back on your life at the memories, this is gonna be one of those nights."

"Meanwhile back at mama's. The porch light's on, come in if you wanna. Supper's on the stove and beer's in the fridge. Red sun sinkin' out low on the ridge. Games on the tube and daddy smokes cigarettes. Whiskey keeps his whistle wet. Funny the things you thought you'd never miss. In a world gone crazy as this."

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, I wanna go crazy, you can go crazy too. Ooh, ooh, ooh, I wanna go crazy, I wanna go crazy with you. Everybody sayin' "Woah, how sweet it is. Woah." Yeah, it felt good on my lips."

"Smooth as the hickory wind that blows from Memphis down to Apalachicola. It's "Hi, y'all, did you eat well? Come on in, I'm sure glad to know ya." Don't let this old gold cross and this Allman Brothers t-shirt throw ya. It's cicadas making noise with the Southern voice."

"I ain't no angel, I still got a few more dances with the devil. I'm cleaning up my act little by little. I'm getting there. I can finally stand the man in the mirror I see. I ain't as good as I'm gonna get, but I'm better than I used to be."

"I don't ever wanna wake up, looking into someone else's eyes. Another voice calling me baby on the other end of the phone. A new girl putting on her makeup before dinner on Friday night. No, I don't ever wanna know. Oh, oh. No other shotgun rider, beside me, singin' to the radio. Oh, oh. Oh, oh."

"Back when a hoe was a hoe. Coke was a coke. And crack's what you were doing. When you were cracking jokes. Back when a screw was a screw. The wind was all that blew. And when you said I'm down with that. Well, it meant you had the flu. I miss back when. I miss back when. I miss back when."

"One, two, three like a bird I sing, 'cause you given me the most beautiful set of wings. I'm so glad you're here today, 'cause tomorrow I might have to go and fly away. Fly away, fly away, fly away, fly away."

"It ain't like midnight and cigarette smoke. It ain't like watered down whiskey and coke. I guess some things just don't mix like you hope. Like me and you. And diamond rings and old barstools."

"Girl, you don't know what you're puttin' through. It's a business doing pleasure, a business doing pleasure with you."