The drama teacher that I had in high school, back in Texas, was the only teacher who didn't kick me out of his class. He turned me on to 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.' I had picked up Dylan with 'Bringing It All Back Home,' and he turned me on to the first couple of albums, which I hadn't heard.

Bob Dylan emerged from nowhere, like an alien. And that was just the start.

Politics has always been in my music. Anybody who doesn't understand how political "Copperhead Road" is isn't listening very well.

All we do as songwriters is rewrite the songs that have impressed us till we find our own voice. It's part of learning the craft.

Becoming interested in poetics got me interested in theater. Theater is supposed to be poetry, you know, before it's anything else. It just doesn't fly if it isn't musical.

I've been on every interstate highway in the lower forty-eight states by now and I never get tired of the view.

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.