You've got a guy who starts out as an unemployed oil field worker in Oklahoma. Just a completely standard, gritty, blue -collar beginning. And he tries out for a professional football team, doesn't make the cut, and ends up settling for a spot on a semi -pro farm club.

Right, the conventional path is fragile. You have to rely on your own hustle and just be ready when an unconventional back door opens. And that deep skepticism of the system is exactly what fuels the next major turning point in our sources. Because scoring a number one hit didn't magically grant him creative freedom.

• Like, none of what happens in the boardrooms later makes any sense without looking at the oil rigs first
• By eight years old, he had his first guitar
• This is one of my favorite parts of the story
• It's a master class in why  ...