You make decisions, and that's what separates art from some other pop music. It doesn't mean that you can't make an embarrassing amount of money, for a borderline Marxist, doing something that you love, but it does mean that this huge pool of money that was out there when I started making records in the '80s is gone.

I grew up counterculture. I'm essentially a hippie, and I'm essentially a folkie.

I don't care what's happening in the mainstream of country music. I haven't in a long time.

The idea that murder victims' families are best served by continuing the cycle of violence is something that I consider to be not only a lie, but criminally negligent. You lie to victims' families when you tell them they're going to receive closure if they participate in the process and witness the execution of a human being.

My audience doesn't agree with me on everything, but I love my audience, because they're totally okay with us having a dialogue.

If I can get Me out of the way, I can do anything.

I had everything I need to get me killed.