If you're a Brit you kinda get used to people being cold and aloof and just generally arrogant - particularly musicians. (Compared to Londoners New Yorkers are a walk in the park!)

I would always consider myself to be political with a small "p," although it makes me mad when people say politics should be kept out of music.

Sometimes you definitely need to just let go. You need to sort of forget everything.

I think the US and the UK are gradually growing closer together in a lot of ways. They're inextricably linked.

If you are a Steve Earle and you're up on a platform and there are people out there listening to you, say something to them. Tell them something valuable. Tell them something they need to know. It doesn't have to be dictatorial, it just has to be informative.

Bob Dylan had been a big sort of presence in my life but I'd never quite registered what he was trying to tell me. He was always this kind of figure, a sort of bear-like figure in the corner of the room. You know, every time I imagined what Bob Dylan looked like, he looked a bit like Steve Earl used to look - with the beard.

My generation in the UK, they're very apathetic, a lot of them.