When your dad makes a living as a children's singer, you figure, 'I can do anything.' He made up his own job and did it.

My ultimate goal is to try to be real. It just so happens that I'm usually more happy than sad when I'm writing. And in general I think that life is pretty great, and it's cool to be here, so that comes through in my music. I don't have a dismal outlook, but I don't aim to make positive music. It's just what I am.

I have a thing: I will always put money in for any street musician anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world. It's like giving back the money I got.

Well, there are two kinds of happiness, grounded and ungrounded. Ungrounded happiness is cheesy and not based on reality. Grounded happiness is informed happiness based on the knowledge that the world sometimes sucks, but even then you have to believe in yourself.

When your dad makes a living as a children's singer, you figure, 'I can do anything.' He made up his own job and did it.

As a musician, you just want to be able to do what you love.

To be a good musician, you need to give people what they want, what they need.