Timothy B. Schmit

I try to live in a state of being grateful as much as possible. I'm not always successful.

My dad and I didn't talk much. Our relationship was OK but not amazing. So there I was, dressed up in my sort of uniform, the clothes my band was wearing at the time. He could tell I was I getting serious. I guess he knew I was going to go for it. So he told me how to handle myself professionally, not to take what people write about me to heart.

I just want to keep going as long as I can. I'm getting older, and I want to keep growing, and I feel pretty excited about what I do. Whether it's true or not, I believe I'm doing better as a writer, which is really nice.

There is a song called 'I Refuse,' and I get a bit scolding, I suppose, in a way. But it all comes back to elements of hope, and in the case of that song, it's basically, 'Okay, you're trying to suck me into this world of negativity, and I'm not going to go there. I'm going to live my own life.'

My youngest is 26, and so I hardly remember life not being a father, but my wife and I were hands on-parents.

One of the important things when you're making a record or doing a performance is the sequence of the songs. It really matters a lot because you want your project, your show, or your albums to sort of have a life.

It seems like people are just dropping off the Earth. I suppose that happens when you get older. It's part of life. No one's getting out of it.

Music's always been a big part of my life. Because of my father, I was always surrounded by music and musicians, and in school, I was in the chorus, and I played various instruments.

The two most mysterious things in our lives are birth and death. They are both miraculous events; one brings shiny, brand new life into the world, and the other snuffs it out like that. That person isn't there anymore.

I grew up pretty much living in trailer houses. The third and final trailer house was called an 'Expando' because you could actually crank it open from 8 feet to 15 feet wide. It was a virtual palace for my brothers and I.

I've had a lot of people pass away in my life. I guess it's all a matter of how you deal with your mortality - and recognizing that you are mortal. I'm trying to see what a gift life is and how quickly it can be extinguished, without any warning.

Even though I grew up playing folk music - and surf music, originally - I was listening to Motown and Stax on the radio as well. That music always resonated with me.