Nashville's like any other hometown - after a while, it's stifling.

All my records have been written to be records, rather than writing a group of songs and seeing if they fit together.

I think the best thing an artist can do is not hang out with other artists. I really dislike hanging out with musicians, for the most part, except for a few select friends, because I don't like to talk about music all the time.

I know I'm never going to be a big pop star, because I'm not willing to conform.

I try and eat good. On the road, that's next to impossible. And we eat a lot of unhealthy things when we're in Texas - that's what you do there.

I've always written. When I was in school, the only teacher who ever liked me was my creative writing teacher. I used to enter poetry competitions, and I don't think I ever lost one. So I had the idea for a while of being some kind of poet.

There's a certain urgency that comes from the records of the early 60s before overdubbing and multitracking came into play.