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.

One of the joys of writing music is making your own mark. Study other stuff, immerse yourself in music and then tell your own truth.

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

Music is politics - it always has been and it always will be.

I want to be accessible to a certain type of person who wants to walk around with their eyes open, or at least is open to the idea of change.

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

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.