T-Bone Burnett once said that much of rock music is simply someone going wahhh daddy.

The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.

It doesn't matter what happened last night or the night - or tomorrow night. It's all about what you're doing with this audience right now.

I always write with an audience in mind. If I feel that [connection] coming back at me then I feel like I'm doing my job. That's why people come to my music - for some emotional experience or a perspective, either on their own lives, or on the world that they're living in.

I was in my late 20s, in the process of shaping my musical outlook and what I wanted it to be about, when I first encountered Woody Guthrie.

The moment you begin to depend on audience reaction, you're doing the wrong thing. You're doin' it wrong, it's a mistake, it's not right. You can't allow yourself, no matter what, to depend on them.

Nothing matters in the whole wide world when you're in love with a Jersey girl.