The bottom line is, between Sonny Osborne and Earl Scruggs, I better know how to play banjo. I had the greatest teachers in the world.
I love five-string banjo. On an electric guitar, let’s say a two-hour show, it starts getting heavy right across the neck and shoulders. And I like to be able to flip it off and grab the fiddle, and that’s just the way I do it.
I guarantee you there's a bunch of the twentysomethings that don't know that, don't know I play banjo and bluegrass.
I like metal detecting, collecting Civil War artifacts, fishing, hunting, cigars, Labradors, the outdoor life, my baseball game, football.
I'm going to try to make happy songs or some political songs, like 'A Country Boy Can Survive' - something people can get excited about.
Growing up on Franklin Road in Nashville, I had everyone from Johnny Cash to Fats Domino swinging by my house to talk with my mom about my dad. So I had some pretty diverse influences, and I think that shows in my music.
But, I enjoy music from lots of people. And you also have to also remember that I grew up in a household where people like Fats Domino, Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Earl Scruggs, and so many others were at mama’s house. So, I heard everything growing up.
Most all of my awards are at the Country Music Hall of Fame. You know we had the longest running exhibit in the Hall of Fame history with Family Tradition. More people went to see Daddy's stuff and all the things I have collected over the years than any other exhibit.
I always ask any of the artists that open up if they know 'Family Tradition', since that's my last song in the set, and if they do, I normally ask them to come on out and take a verse and have fun. When that song is done, I am gone.
Many people don’t realize that June Carter Cash was my godmother. She and mother were very tight.
Being a Williams is not easy in this business because the bar is set very high to achieve success. Daddy set some high standards for all of us.
I am and always have been a football guy. My relationship with 'Monday Night Football' lasted 21 years, which is unprecedented for any theme song to be on the air that long.
I more or less said I was going to try to make an existence off my daddy's royalties or I'm going to make it on my own. Daddy is a legend and he don't need me to keep him alive.
