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

A lot of what I have always done is do other singers.

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.

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

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.

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.