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

You know I ain't never prayed before 'Cause it always seemed to me That prayin's the same as beggin' Lord, I don't take no charity.

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.

Records are only one-dimensional. Even film is only one-dimensional. That's why music and live theatre is so important, because it's not the same thing. A recording is just a record of part of the experience, but it's not the whole experience.

I feel like I owe my audience something. They feed my kids. And I really like my job, a lot.

I was comparatively late in understanding Bob Dylan's overwhelming importance as a songwriter. Everybody who does my job exists in the shadow of Bob Dylan. There are two categories: Dylan and everybody else. It's as simple as that. And it's going to be that way until he dies.

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