I started 'Society's Child' on a bus in East Orange as I was going home from school. I saw a black and white couple sitting there and started thinking about it.

Those of us with ravaged faces, lacking in the social graces, desperately remained at home, inventing lovers on the phone.

Once you're halfway home, you know that you can probably get the rest of the way there.

I bought all my friends guitars and I had a good time with my money. But then one day the IRS came knocking.

That's an amazing moment, the first time you hear yourself on radio. It's still thrilling.

I was interviewed for a Grammy television show, and they asked me about Nashville, and I talked for three minutes and when I finished, I was teared up. The whole room was crying. Nashville has given me a home, where I never had a home before.

Artists are taught to be humble about their impact, especially in folk music. It's so ingrained that I have a hard time even thinking I had any impact other than what a normal hit song would have.