You have to live what you write, or you have to know it. There are exceptions, like story songs, where you just have to have your facts straight. But I think you don't have to live a hard life to be a good or interesting songwriter.

Justin Townes Earle

I discovered the same thing Gram Parsons did, that soul music and country music are practically identical. Based off of the same chord structures, and the songs are of heartache and loss. The main connection is they both came up in church.

Justin Townes Earle

Nashville's like any other hometown - after a while, it's stifling.

Justin Townes Earle

I heard Nirvana, and discovered that songs could be like poetry, but a little bit more refined: you didn't have to have 20 verses to get your point across.

Justin Townes Earle

It's nice coming to Nashville, and we have four-bedroom house and a dog, and we go swimming a lot. We get down here and spread out a lot, and I miss my sweet tea and my cornbread and my good southern cooking - but I'm down here eating pretty for two weeks and I'm ready to go back to New York City.

Justin Townes Earle

I got a feeling that when I have kids, I'm going to have a little girl, and she's going to be completely sensible.

Justin Townes Earle

What I'm doing is basically the same as Bob Dylan did with folk songs and Woody Guthrie songs, the same as folk music's always done. I'm not going to sing about ploughing, but I'll write a song that sounds like it should be about ploughing.

Justin Townes Earle

I think a lot of men are afraid of pretty things, and I'm not, I like pretty songs.

Justin Townes Earle

I've never been good at rock'n'roll songs, anyway; either I'm blessed or I'm cursed, but whatever I write comes out sounding old.

Justin Townes Earle

I didn't do anything differently than what my father was doing. It's a really hard family to rebel in. I could have become an accountant. Or I could have become a Republican.

Justin Townes Earle

There's no such thing as a teenager that listens to a single word their father says.

Justin Townes Earle

I've got a 27-inch waist. Before, I was stupid smaller. Finding clothes in the South was impossible.

Justin Townes Earle

I know I'm never going to be a big pop star, because I'm not willing to conform.

Justin Townes Earle

There's a certain urgency that comes from the records of the early 60s before overdubbing and multitracking came into play.

Justin Townes Earle

I grew up in a racially mixed neighborhood. So going over to friends' houses for dinner, their parents listened to Al Green and Luther Ingram. It was something that hit me early on, the feeling that came across.

Justin Townes Earle

All my records have been written to be records, rather than writing a group of songs and seeing if they fit together.

Justin Townes Earle

I love Motown, but I've obviously always been more of a Memphis soul fan. If it's Stax or Motown, I go Stax.

Justin Townes Earle

I didn't get into music to become a blues musician, or a country musician. I'm a singer-songwriter. In my book that means I get to do whatever I want.

Justin Townes Earle

On the road, I weigh 168. At home, ten more.

Justin Townes Earle

I try and eat good. On the road, that's next to impossible. And we eat a lot of unhealthy things when we're in Texas - that's what you do there.

Justin Townes Earle

My parents split up when I was about 2. I realize more and more how much I'm like my father. My gentleness comes from my mother.

Justin Townes Earle