I find that the time that goes by is actually your best friend when you are making a record. The passing of time gives you perspective on what you recorded and what you wrote. If something sounds good to you 12 months after you recorded it then chances are pretty good that there's something valuable about the part or the song.

One of the great things about music is that it has the capability of time travel - you smell a certain smell in the room and it takes you back to your childhood. I feel like music is able to do that, and it happens to me all the time.

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

Every record turns into whatever the listener gets out of it.

I love the sound of Elmore James, the sound early guitarists like him got just by using minimal means.

If you think of the way Howlin' Wolf made records, you get the feeling there wasn't a production manager onsite, or a publicist having his say on how he should sing the songs. When you listen to his records, you feel like you're tapping into his voice.

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.