There's just kind of a sweetness about Canadians. Americans are a little more pushy, I mean, in a way that I enjoy - they're basically pushy because of their enthusiasm - we're a lot clumsier than other people.

You're not supposed to totally know what's happening. The songs are supposed to give you clues so you can fill in the blanks.

There's this art form in songwriting that's incredibly difficult - to be really funny in a song and also really touching. I can't do that.

I want the recording process to be a time in my life that I will remember.

Country music is completely punk-rock. It's the original punk-rock.

I was raised to be modest to the point of fanaticism. In my family, we don't talk about ourselves to each other. Vanity is considered the worst possible sin. I've gotten better about having to describe things. If you're going to make a record and people are going to write about you, it's your responsibility to answer questions. It's validating - I'm just very clumsy.

I just want to make stories. They don't have to have a moral or a reason. There might be some mild cautionary notes, but they're not moral. They don't impart any Judeo-Christian ethic of any kind.