I'm 47 years old. I couldn't compete with Beyonce. I'm not competing with anyone. I've already established myself as an artist. I've been in this business for 30 years. There's no reason for me to compete with anyone.
You know you have made it as an artist when you have the power to say no.
I came in as an established artist. People were hiring me for what I did and for who I was. I think that has given me a vast amount of leeway; I feel so lucky that I came in that way.
And I mean, I'm established. So I'm not worried about having a hit at this point in my career.
I dislike the word 'emerging artist.' Emerging connotes to me an alligator coming up from the water. I consider all artists to be artists, not rising, emerging, amateur, beginning, but the real thing.
I've been around longer than most of my fans have been alive.
It's nice when you've done enough movies that you can do your own anthology.
I mean this record does not sound like somebody's maiden voyage.
My record label is treating me like I'm a new artist, which is exciting after all this time.
It takes lot of years for a composer to make a name.
I quite like it to be risky. I'm not ready to sit down in a chair with my name on it yet. I've arrived at that point in the art world where there really is a chair that you sit in.
I'm in the position where I don't have to make commercial music to feed myself, so I have the luxury of being more experimental, if that's what I choose to do. I guess I've earned the right by being in the business for a while and paying the dues and taking the lumps.
I'm not a kid trying to make an impression in the business. I do have 600 films out there that are playing constantly.
Any time you're nominated for anything, it's a true blessing and something you should be really excited about, but it's sort of time to not be considered new anymore because I don't really feel like I'm new. I'm just glad people still see me as fresh. I wish there was a 'fresh country artist category' rather than 'new.'
