Success makes life easier. It doesn't make living easier.

Yeah, my son likes a lot of guitar bands. He gave me something the other day which was really good. He'll burn a CD for me full of things that he has, so he's a pretty good call if I want to check some of that stuff out... The other two aren't quite into that yet.

The great challenge of adulthood is holding on to your idealism after you lose your innocence.

I was real good at music and real bad at everything else.

Every song has a piece of you in it, because just general regret, love. You have to basically zero in on the truth of those particular emotions.

The artists we love, they put their fingerprint on your imagination, and on your heart and your soul.

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.