A great singer has to learn how to inhabit a song.

I played in front of every conceivable audience you could face: an all-black audience, all-white, firemen's fairs, policemen's balls, in front of supermarkets, bar mitzvahs, weddings, drive-in theaters. I'd seen it all before I ever walked into a recording studio.

Sometimes it's like someone took a knife, baby, edgy and dull and cut a six inch valley through the middle of my soul.

All I try to do is write music that feels meaningful to me, that has commitment and passion behind it.

My soul is lost, my friend, tell me how do I begin again? My city's in ruins, my city's in ruins.

We all have stories we're living and telling ourselves.

The best music is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with.