was an American archetype, the bad guy with the big heart.

Because Ritchie Valens WAS the real deal. He was only starting, but in the time he spent in the business, he made big impact. I don't know if anybody could have made a bigger one.

You know, in the days when I started, if you had Chet Atkins' name on your record as a producer and it was on RCA, you could work the road. It didn't have to be a big hit record, it just had to have that on it.

He?s an American archetype, the PR hustler, who is sort of basically good at heart, but he?s in it for the thrill of the verbal chase and he?s excited by it and he gets carried away with his own artistry.

We did an album one time called White Mansions, about the civil war, but it was written by a guy from England. His looking at it from over there and it not being a part of his history made it so he could be objective.

There's always one more way to do things and that's your way, and you have a right to try it at least once.