I have a daughter, and it's a very bad message to send to my daughter that to be valid or accepted or to have value, you have to look a certain way. It's all about appearance, and not about education and not about contributing. I think we've completely lost our way.

I came out to California from Texas, to the Haight, and the Fillmore and all that stuff, and totally got the bug.

The writers that I aspire to, like Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman, they'll tell you that the work gets harder, not easier. And they set that bar for us where we're always striving to do something better than the last time, whether it's the next song or just the next line.

The hurt of a love that is lost has no cure but the love of another heart.

I'm a very private, very reclusive kind of guy.

People say, 'How's the record doing?' In the old days you'd say, 'We're at 600,000, it's doing great.' You don't say those things anymore. Those numbers are gone.

In the tradition of the classic songwriter rooms like The Bluebird in Nashville, Strange Brew is a gift to the music community in Austin, for artists and audiences alike