Having a child at 55... that's optimism.

Poetry is the hardest thing that there is. It fascinates me, so I want to write more of it.

My dad was in a wheelchair and on oxygen for the last few years of his life.

He's the real deal. Eric Taylor was one of my heroes and teachers when I started playing around Houston in the early 1970s.

Every leap forward that I make is by reaching back and firmly getting a footing in the past, and pushing forward as hard as I can.

When you're really bummed out, the last thing you want to hear is up-tempo and positive. And it lets you know that you're not alone, that somebody has hurt before. It works the same way with chick songs as it does with political songs. When you hear somebody singing about these things, you know that you're not alone, that somebody else is suspicious of what's going on around us in the world. So you don't feel like you're crazy, and you feel like you might be able to make a difference.

I just had a child on purpose at age 56, I'm pretty f---ing optimistic.