People like Howlin' Wolf, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, John Lee Hooker, Nina Simone, Captain Beefheart - all of these artists were what I grew up listening to every day of my life. And there's a very healthy music scene in the west country of England, where I grew up.

I do write a lot of prose. It's not disciplined enough yet that it's actually become stories, or short stories. The idea of writing a novel seems impossible.

The way I make music is unique to myself and the way I have lived my life - no one else would tell that story in the same way that I do.

Some things lend themselves well to songs, some things don't, and I'm learning that a lot at the moment. It's still a relatively new way of writing. It's only really the last five to 10 years that I've taken my writing seriously in this way, as something I can keep working toward. I think I feel myself much more before as simply a songwriter.

First off, I think nudity is taken differently in America, though they did make a fuss in England, too.

But huge photographs of dead bodies are slightly different. I couldn't find much humor there.

People have a tendency to see country life through rose-colored glasses.