I was born in a small town in the hills of Tennessee   Kentucky raised, just a country boy and that's all I'll ever be   My daddy ran a still house to keep us kids alive   Just doin' what he had to do after mama died      The same people that called him no good   Would meet him in the back woods for a little taste   He said, ''I may take your money but don't put yourself above me''   Don't cut me down as you walk away      You don't know me, you don't know who I am   You don't know the pain that I've been through   So don't judge me till you stand where I stand   I don't need you or anyone else to approve   'Cause the blood in these veins is tried and true      I left home at sixteen with a guitar on my back   With everything I called my own I carried in a paper sack   Spent years of havin' nothin' and sleepin' in my car   I'd drive all day and play all night   In the honky tonks and bars      The same people that called me crazy   Said I'm too lazy to amount to anything   Are the first ones to the stage just beggin' for a little taste   Who say you knew me when nobody knew my name but      You don't know me you don't know who I am   You don't know the pain that I've been through   So don't judge me till you stand where I stand   I don't need you or anyone else to approve   'Cause the blood in these veins is tried and true      The same people that called me crazy   Said I'm too lazy to amount to anything   Are the first ones to the stage just beggin' for a little taste   Who say you knew me when nobody knew my name but      You don't know me you don't know who I am   You don't know the pain that I've been through   So don't judge me till you stand where I stand      I don't need you or anyone else to approve   'Cause the blood in these veins is tried and true   The blood in these veins is tried and true