My first two records are so simply constructed. The reason isn't because I wanted to make simple music. It's because I don't really have the chops.

I just want to make my music, and I want it to stand on its own.

I used to be a jazz snob, believe it or not. I sort of turned my nose up at anything more commercial.

You know, when you have a father who's pretty well known but you don't see him, the last thing you want to do is start talking about him all the time to people.

It's important to keep indie record stores alive because their unique environments introduce music lovers to things in a very personal way.

I had success early on where I'm able to try to keep it fun, and I don't have to do things just for the sake of making a living, which a lot of my musician friends don't have that luxury of course.

There's a lot of personal stuff that can go into songwriting but there's also a lot of dramatization and fictionalization. You have to do that to make a good song.