When the muse hits me, or the mood, or whatever it is, I get my guitar out and I empty it out. I just start going through things to see what's going to happen.

What I do as a songwriter is a constant force in my life, that I'm grateful to have.

I'm trying to get out of my own way

I didn't grow up in a mom-and-pop, Ozzie and Harriet type of environment, but who did.

The old jazz singers or old blues singers, you always just saw them kind of sitting down and singing. They weren't worried as much about their voice sounding perfect. They would make the song kind of fit their voice.

I'm pretty much the same person I was 20 years ago. My politics haven't changed. I have the same feeling of idealism. But I am a little bit wiser and more experienced.

I'm an artist first and foremost. So things are gonna go up and down and sideways and whichever way all through life.