It's incredible to see labor unions and environmentalists getting together to stop the corporate mentality that destroys both jobs and the environment.

There's nothing like living a long time to create a depth and soulfulness in your music.

Maybe the idea of me is more powerful than I perceive myself being.

I'm sure I would have been considered a more significant artist if I was a singer-songwriter. It's just not the way I roll. I love being a curator and a musicologist. People write me letters and thank me for turning them on to Fred McDowell and Sippie Wallace, and that's partly my job this time around.

I would rather feel things in extreme than not at all.

We can live in fear or act out of hope.

It's so thrilling. And not just the music. The Internet is changing the future of fund-raising. I'm thrilled by the potential.