I had just lost my dad and I remembered all the songs we used to go and hear at concerts, and the records around the house and sometimes we'd play together.

Through music you learn not to care about the color of someone's skin.

I am not struggling. What I do, it is what I do.

A lot of people play to impress, but the really gifted ones play to move. That's the greatest point of ever doing this.

I am responsible for me. I can kind of take care of what I need to do and should do what I like to do.

Even when I'm touring, I feel like a sideman ... everybody's working together. We get to play longer solos; it's not just "Here's the record! Thank you for coming Goodnight" ... it has always had a "band" feel instead of being a singer and his backup band.

Everything I've done feels like I'm just as much a part of it as if I was the producer. It's still the same job: all of us together figuring out the common good for a song. That's the only thing that matters. It's not like, "I'm the boss, and I'm gonna tell you what to play."