As soon as I got into music, I tried to be a working, real artist who gets paid for what he does, who doesn't have a day job.

I think that painting is a very ancient form of expression.

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

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'm always looking to rock out. But it isn't really about rocking out versus being mellow, in terms of your personal satisfaction. In the end, you just want to be good. When you look at something that's really good, it might be Iggy Pop or it might be Leonard Cohen. Whatever it is, you want it to be really good.

As soon as I got into music, I tried to be a working, real artist who gets paid for what he does, who doesn't have a day job.

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