Since he was from Lubbock, Texas, was it odd that Buddy was playing rock, and not country?
He had a country band, you know. Buddy was not all that good as a country entertainer. He just didn’t have the voice to sing country music. He could do rock and pop type things. He loved good country music; he loved anything that had a good rhythm to it. He was very smart and ahead of his times as far as rhythms were concerned. The difference between his music and regular country music was the groove, for one thing. He insisted on the groove being right. Is that how he influenced you musically? I think so. That’s the first thing I look for. You hear similar grooves in your songs, like “Honky Tonk Heroes.” Yeah, if you can’t feel it, then you can’t sing it. Not right, anyway. Was that something you first learned from him? Yes, it was. Buddy and I talked about things like Hank Williams and country music a lot. They depended on a singer in country music, and not the feeling of it. The feeling came from the singer, where in rock and roll, you had to feel it first, then hear it. I think mos
