What seems conceit, bad manners or cynicism is always a sign of things no ear have heard, no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone.

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.

It's just the more you do it the better you get, or at least that's how I feel in my case. I think it's a combination of confidence and just having done it this long and just learning. I'm always learning. I'm still honing my craft.

I'm trying to learn how to tap into the power of my own being. I know it sounds corny.

You can't be afraid to deal with your demons. You've got to go there to be able to write.

As it turns out, now is the moment you've been waiting for

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