My parents split up when I was about 2. I realize more and more how much I'm like my father. My gentleness comes from my mother.

I love Motown, but I've obviously always been more of a Memphis soul fan. If it's Stax or Motown, I go Stax.

New York has always had a love for Southern artists. There's no place else that makes me feel like the city does. I just love the immediate nature of the city, you can get whatever you want whenever you want it and do whatever you want whenever you want to.

I heard Nirvana, and discovered that songs could be like poetry, but a little bit more refined: you didn't have to have 20 verses to get your point across.

I grew up in a racially mixed neighborhood. So going over to friends' houses for dinner, their parents listened to Al Green and Luther Ingram. It was something that hit me early on, the feeling that came across.

I don't think I have any right to say I belong to that [Woody Guthrie/Bob Dylan tradition]. I think that's something that eventually maybe you get inducted into. I'm just experimenting.

I think a lot of men are afraid of pretty things, and I'm not, I like pretty songs.