I can remember back as far as age 8, performing with the Boston Folk Song Society. It was a Woody Guthrie song.

They're pretty good actually, Hall & Oates. I gotta give them credit. They got a lot of toe-tappers.

But the truth is that critics are by definition critical. That's their job.

I've got a small, loyal audience, which is great. And I appreciate that. They're there for me every time.

I have always been a singer, a writer, and a musician, not as a prodigy or as in a trade handed to me by my parents, but because of an inner voice or maybe a command from beyond reality as it is usually defined.

I certainly have gotten caught up in the music business at various times in my life, mostly because you want to get along with whatever record company you're dealing with. I don't want to be flaky. I don't want to be some temperamental, hard-to-work-with musician.

I think everyone should sell whatever product they want to sell for whatever price they want to sell it for, but ultimately the market will dictate what it is and people will have to charge less money for everything. Record companies have been overcharging people for way too long and now this is the trouble that they're in.