What was that experience like, bringing country music to New York?
Well, it’s not the first time I played in New York, but it was a wonderful thing, and I think Jack was a big Porter Wagoner fan. If you remember, he’d done a record on Loretta Lynn, so I think Jack was into the concept, taking country legends and doing new things with them, so he invited Porter to be a part of that show, and me and my band went up there to back him up. It was wonderful for me to see young kids that probably had never even heard of him, responding to him because of the way he looked and the kind of songs he was singing. It was a wonderful experience. What are your feelings on modern country music? Are you a fan? Of certain people and certain songs, and I absolutely encourage modern country music, trust me. I totally know that there aren’t a lot of people out there that think the way I do about some things, but we need modern country music as much as we need traditional country music. It’s a balance, and we need bluegrass, and folk music. We need all those divisions of c
