I'm glad I can do both full-band electric and solo acoustic performances. It's nice to have contrast, so if you get fed up with one, you can just switch to the other one. It's great to go to a town and play an acoustic show, and then you can come back a year later and play electric, and the show's really fairly different. The repertoire will be 50 percent different. The musical energy is completely different.

I'm sure every pattern has been covered, but it's nice to think you might dwell on some that other people don't.

I probably wrote three-quarters of the songs without an instrument in my hands.

I'm glad there are a lot of guitar players pursuing technique as diligently as they possibly can, because it leaves this whole other area open to people like me.

There is in fact a controversy over Darwin's theory. Clearly both theories have religious implications. But this is not about God.

The best thing you've got going for you is individuality.

I think it's absolutely possible to write a song and go somewhere where no one's been before, uncharted territory. In terms of content, I see limitations where there should be none. I know there are things I wouldn't write about, but that shouldn't be the case. You should be able to make a song out of anything, out of any situation.