Bobby Bones

“Everything that I do should be wrong, but I started really young, and I just learned how to learn. I would fail, and I would figure out why that didn't go right and do it again.”

“My grandmother adopted me for a while, and I was bouncing around a bit. I was always helped by the PTA and church groups with food and Christmas presents. It's a hard cycle to break, because when you don't have the resources, it's almost impossible.”

“I think my career has been instances of me trying to figure out ways to get around doing it the right way because I don't think I have the tools to do it the right way. There's a talent to that.”

“I think I felt very alone for a lot of my life, but once I was able to share my story more and more, and people wouldn't say, 'Hey, I felt sorry for you,' but, 'I get it, and I understand you,' it kind of encouraged me to tell it more. I just don't want people to feel alone.”

“I think funny comes from tragedy and time. And I think that's where I get it. I'm able to take things that are serious and sad, and turn it into funny. In all honesty - this is after a lot of therapy - I think that, you know, I need love from something, and so now, I find it through performing.”

“That's what the grind is, doing all the little things knowing that something may not come out of it. It probably won't. But the goal is to get a shot at it.”

“I fail at things all the time. I'm always being told no. I just get back up and try again.”

“The medical protocol for poor people is, if something hurts, get over it. If something hurts real bad, put salve on it.”

“I've been doing stand-up since I was 19. There have been times I've had to step away because of my schedule, but now I'm able to go out and do theaters and not smoky little bars.”

“A wise man once said, 'Instead of crying, I keep on trying.' And that wise man is me, because I just made that up. I think.”

“Country music listeners really like genuineness, and I hope that's what we portray, and I think that's what we do.”

“I've had some great relationships that I have absolutely sabotaged because I'm afraid to get close to someone, and I know, eventually, I'll run off.”

“I do think that inside of country music now there's a very silent majority, and I represent that silent majority.”

“I grew up in Mountain Pine, Arkansas. You get no more country than where I grew up. But I also grew up in the Napster / iTunes / Spotify/ iHeart Radio era, and so I see that everything is influenced by everything else, and that's what country music is now.”

“I would watch a lot of old tapes of David Letterman doing his talk show and a lot of interviews. I never had a mentor in my career because my approach has always been so different. Letterman stayed true to who he was, and his staff was always fantastic, so for me, that was always important.”

“I'm not a guy who looks for signs in the universe to tell him things. I believe that if you search hard enough for the answer you already know, you will find it.”

“I don't believe in luck. I don't believe in destiny. Instead, I believe that our lives are powered by countless microdecisions.”

“Every time we do anything, Austin's the No. 1 place of all that supports it. Austin is our biggest philanthropic helper, even for things that have nothing to do with Austin or Texas.”

“I won because I was the people's favorite dancer, and that's what I work with these Idols on. There have been 1,000 singers before you that are as good or better than you, but you're not trying to be the best singer ever. You're trying to be the people's favorite singer.”

“I don't think I ever won't do radio. I feel like, between the radio, the podcast, the books, even social media, you have to be a personality eleven places now, or you're not a personality anywhere.”