Labor for a lot of people has a negative connotation. But not for me. I always want to be working.

The studio's a collaborative environment. I just try to let people bring their own ideas to the songs and see what happens.

Young people like to feel self-righteous, like they're on the right side of things.

I think listening to a lot of Lou Reed when I was a teenager is what encouraged me to just sing however felt good to me.

Anything that is within you is a gift. To be able to take possession of that and say, "Whatever it is, I am bigger than it," is to learn to cherish even the hard and painful things.

I do have a romantic interest in outlasting everybody else. There's a sort of sad machismo to singer-songwriters, I think.

I get nostalgic about having lived in Ames, Iowa, even though being a vegetarian in Iowa is not fun.