Whenever I have bid a hasty goodbye to a loved one, I've always made sure that my record collection was safely stored away in the boot of the car.

I come from a very small island which is packed with people. I mean, jam-packed with people. I've lived a life which has been pretty much full up with ambition, ideas, stimulus, creativity, some negativity, which I try to avoid. Austin is a great sort of stepping-off point, if you like. I'm from a temperate climate.

It's a two-dimensional gig being a singer, and you can get lost in your own tedium and repetition.

Possibly the whole creative whirlwind of any musician's life is based on garnering and developing and absorbing more and more experience.

What I lack in style and craft, I can make up for in joy and enthusiasm. I like to be around people who are at ease so I like to think the 25-year-old would find me quite an easy-going late-middle-aged hippie.

It's crucial that I kind of keep up, without drifting into the backslapping land of cliche and lifetime achievement awards.

I've still got a twinkle in me.