Sitting down at the House of Blues in Dallas with G. Love, it's hard to imagine there was a time in his life when he couldn't talk, let alone, sing.
"It was such an emotional year, I always have put a lot into my music and everything I had," said Love, "Four months out of surgery and I'm doing things like warm-up before sound-check, warm-up before the show and cool down after the show."
In November, 2008, Love underwent major surgery to repair his vocal chords after being diagnosed with an acute vocal hemorrhage.
Since the surgery, he's changed his routine and the way he gets ready for shows and his actual performance.
"I'm back out. I'm feeling great. I've got a new routine, you know? You'll see me on stage, I've got water," said Love, "Sometimes you'll see me have a drink. "
For the past 15 years, G. Love and Special Sauce have been bringing their unique style of "hip-hop, blues" to audiences around the world.
"It's always about the music. It's about the art and you always want to make the thing and put 100 percent of what you have -- a million percent of what you have -- into making the best song you can about what you're living and the best way you and the songwriter know how to get across to as many people as you can without losing your identity," said Love.
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The group tours hard -- putting on at least 150 shows a year and have already pumped out 10 albums including the most recent, "Superhero Brother."
"This record, I really wanted to challenge myself as a guitar player. I wanted to challenge myself," said Love.
Probably one of the band's most famous songs is "Cold Beverage," which was very popular with established fans and the world of MTV.
The band formed back in 1993 in Boston and released their first self-titled album about a year later.
"We went from being a local Irish bar band, playing ever Monday night at the corner bar to doing this tour across the country with lines out the door. They were little clubs, but hey, they were all sold out coast to coast and all around the world," said Love.
G. Love or Garrett Dutton grew up in Philadelphia where he started taking guitar lessons when he was about 8 years old. Love said he didn't start to sound good until he was 13 and at 15 he started writing songs.
Music wasn't his only passion, he also played basketball in high school.
"My team I went to school with was really good. They had one of the Top 5 point guards in the country. When I was in 9th grade I played junior varsity and then 10th grade rolled around, you know, I had a chance of playing varsity. Over Christmas break the coach was holding practices at the same time they were holding this demo derby," said Love. "You know like, in the local Philly paper, send in your demos for a showcase -- made a demo on my boom-box and sent it in instead of going to basketball practice. I was a starter, a leader of the team and he benched me. He didn't start me for the rest of the season because of that."
Perhaps you could call that decision the start of G. Love's music career.
In addition to playing music, Love's other passions are surfing and his son, he says he's hard to balance being a musician and being a father.
"Normal life, it's tough man. It's like, it's definitely like, you know, the trapping of what we do as musicians? You know, it really is a heartbreaking thing I'm going through it right now, you know? I had a kid, he is the love of my life, um, you know it didn't work out with his mom and we tried and it's just too tough on the people you leave at home," said Love.
For more on James Chippendale, the host of "Last Call," and his Love, Hope, Strength Foundation click here.
