Although I was writing songs when I was younger, I didn't feel I had much of a clue as to what I was doing or how I was doing it. There are a few songs from my past where I thought, 'Well, that's pretty decent,' but I didn't have a discipline. I suppose I'm kind of a late bloomer.

I didn't really think too much about being any kind of pioneer. The truth is, I actually kind of caught onto a couple of really great coat tails in my career. The things were already moving when I got involved in both cases, really - Poco and the Eagles.

I got to see The Beatles a couple of times. In fact, I saw their last performance ever in San Francisco. The Beatles were massive to me - I learned so much from them.

I'm a fan of all music, and probably my first - well, not the very first music I listened to, but back in the late fifties, when I first started hearing rock & roll, it was definitely tinged with doo wop and also Elvis and all those great songs.

For me, success is being happy. I used to think it was lots of houses, lots of record sales, lots of stories to tell. But some massive life changes, getting a divorce and my dad dying, led to a huge period of reflection.

The police came to me to say I had death threats and that I had to be careful!

New Orleans taught me that mourning takes many different forms. Where I'm from, mourning is spirited. It is loud.

The drink? Yes, I've had tough times in my life, especially the last year, regarding my ex-wife, my kids, I nearly broke my neck, I was on death row with pneumonia.