A novel is a performance you have to plan.

There are only two stories: either you go forward or you die.

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.

Giving up and doing something else (nursing, for me) was exactly what eventually led me to making music that other people wanted to hear.

If my songs are being listened to between any other songs, that is awesome, and I'm glad people are getting something out of them.

People don't tend to notice, but in the past 10 years especially there's been a lot of growth in how I write songs and what goes into them. You can listen to Mountain Goats from 1991 to 2007 and never hear a seventh chord. In 2007 or 2008, I started working on the piano to grow as a songwriter. I started throwing major sevens in and sixes and more interesting stuff.

It's easy to follow national politics and weigh in on social media, but if I'm tweeting stuff about Chatham County, no one cares.