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

I felt that, in retrospect, there was a time in the late Seventies, after I had a string of hits and successes, as a performer and a recording artist, that I wasn't saying anything.

I love all kinds of music.

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

I'm still trying to re-create a Ray Charles concert that I heard when I was fifteen years old, and all my nerve endings were fried and transformed, and electricity shot through me.

As far as other instrumentalists, I used to love mellow sax players like Paul Desmond. I love piano.

As a guitar player, you can gravitate to the blues because you can play it easily. It's not a style that's difficult to pick up. It's purely emotive and dead easy to get a start with.