Certain things you have to stumble on to. They can't be preprogrammed.

I went every Sunday to church when I was growing up, and I think that music had an affect on me before my memory can recall.

I remember when I was 5 or 6 years old, gospel music felt familiar, like I had heard it in the womb or something. A lot of those old gospel songs still give me that feeling, that it's older than time and there's actually music that can tap into a universal subconscious, or whatever word you want to put on it.

When I started writing, I used the singing side of the production as a vehicle for melody and lyrical ideas. Eventually, that process of using my voice to bring ideas across became more complicated, and I felt I could use it more as an expressive tool.

I don't like the way recording to digital sounds. Most of the time when I'm recording to 2-inch tape, I still have a romantic vision of how songs sounded coming out of the radio when I was younger, and how they sounded coming out of my little four-track cassette player.

I've worked with just as many talented women as I have talented men, and I feel fortunate enough to have that great balance.

The production process has a great way of bringing songs to light and that's a big part of it.