I listened to classical guitar and Spanish guitar, as well as jazz guitar players, rock and roll and blues. All of it. I did the same thing with my voice.

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.

I would say that I'm finding my voice in more ways than one.

Quite frankly, I've always listened to the black side of the radio dial. Where I grew up, there was a lot of it and there was a lot of live music around.

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.