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

I don't think I'm a political songwriter as much as I am just a political person. I think it's in my fabric.

I'm one of the few people that I know that sings better than they did 20 years ago.

My objection to the death penalty is based on the idea that this is a democracy, and in a democracy the government is me, and if the government kills somebody then I'm killing somebody.

I think the criticism that I take to heart is from other writers that I respect.

Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.

I love theater. I go all the time. It's one of the reasons I moved to New York. But I understand that I have limited range as an actor. I can only play people who talk like me.