Any musician with a slight level of self-awareness can be taught to write a 'good' song. A great song is completely original. It feels as if the performer is the only person who could bring it to life.

My main influences are pop and folk music - Bob Lind, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, the Motown collection, The Zombies, Elliott Smith, and a ton of 70's AM radio hits. I love powerpop too.

From a literary standpoint, I've been loving Raymond Carver's short stories, William Carlos Williams' poems, Richard Siken's 'Crush', John Fante, and Jim Harrison's book of ghazals. I love film and photography too, so many of my songs are very image rich from those influences.

I wrote a song at age five about algae on the pond by our house, then the next 'real' song was in fifth grade about an unrequited crush.

I'd be the outsider gal who undergoes a makeover in the end [in the 'The Breakfast Club' ].

A great song is the reason you want to jump out of your bed in the morning.

I want them to have a desirable experience in whatever way that may manifest itself in each person.