I think the women - Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu - are doing new conceptual things and using their voices to create new American music.

My parents were music lovers and collectors. It was around.

The short answer is, yes, I think I have become a better singer.

I think that it can be said of a lot of artists, and myself included, that we made the same record over and over from the beginning.

I was a guitar player first off.

There is not a lot that keeps me glued to the radio as I used to be.

My songwriting and my style became more complex as I listened, learned, borrowed and stole and put my music together.