I Walk The Line Was My Third

Gospel Music Was The Thing That Inspired Me As A Child Growing Up On A Cotton Farm, Where Work Was Drudgery And It Was So Hard That When I Was In The Field I Sang All The Time. Usually Gospel Songs Because They Lifted Me Up Above That Black Dirt.

We'll All Be Equal Under The Grass, And God's Got A Heaven For Country Trash.

God Gives Us Life And Takes Us Away As He Sees Fit.

In The Air Force, I Had An Old Wilcox Gay Recorder, And I Used To Hear Guitar Runs On That Recorder Going (vocalizing) Like The Chords On "i Walk The Line." And I Always Wanted To Write A Love Song Using That Theme, That Tune.

By The Time I Actually Recorded Bitter Tears I Carried A Heavy Load Of Sadness And Outrage; I Felt Every Word Of Those Songs... I Expected There To Be Trouble With That Album, And There Was.... When It Was Released, Many Radio Stations Wouldn't Play It.... The Very Idea Of Unconventional Or Even Original Ideas Ending Up On "country" Radio In The Late 1990s Is Absurd.