I'm pretty much the same person I was 20 years ago. My politics haven't changed. I have the same feeling of idealism. But I am a little bit wiser and more experienced.
I'm trying to get out of my own way
We just did a few takes of a song and just picked the best one. It was real organic and genuine.
I'm an artist first and foremost. So things are gonna go up and down and sideways and whichever way all through life.
Back in the 1960s, I saw Peter, Paul and Mary. I was at that age, about 14, and I was mesmerized.
I would worry if I wasn't coming up with ideas, if I wasn't inspired.
Blaze Foley was a genius and a beautiful loser.
Theres so many other things to write about than unrequited love.
What seems conceit, bad manners or cynicism is always a sign of things no ear have heard, no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone.
It's easier to write songs when you're single.
I'm polite. I guess that's the dichotomy within me. I don't like to piss people off just for the sake of pissing them off. I pick my battles.
I write the songs, go in and record them, then I listen to everything and decide how it all fits together.
Sometimes I dream song ideas. I write a song in my dream, the melody and everything. But then sometimes I can't remember them. I think later on, I probably do.
I'm in a contented, loving relationship, but that doesn't mean I'm not struggling with other things that are going on around me in the world.
Believe it or not, people went so far as to suggest that I might not be able to write songs anymore because now I am married. I tried to explain again that there are other things to write about besides boy meets girl, girl meets boy, boy breaks up with girl, girl is sad.
I think in the world of rock music or whatever it's called - anything outside of Nashville - there's a lot more freedom within that industry to do whatever you want to do.
There's this whole idea that you've got the blues and you're going to write. Bullshit. When I feel really bad, all I want to do is sit in front of the TV with the remote control and check out.
Any time there's a major change, whether it's going into a relationship, getting out of a relationship, moving to a new city, a death - that usually provides a catalyst for an explosion of creativity.
People seemed to think, you get to a certain age or you get married or you, you're comfortable. And so now there's nothing to write about: that angst is gone. The youthful angst. And that just hasn't happened with me.
I don't keep a journal anymore. I did when I was a teenager, but now because I write about it all in my songs, that's what I'm really doing.
I usually don't write about my life right when it happens. I process it, and I store it away. Then, when I get in the mood I pull the stuff back out.
I grew up around poets and novelists and my dad wrote poems about everything - from a cat sleeping in a window to a car wreck he passed on the highway. I learned not to censor myself: that was one of things I learned in my apprenticeship, my creative-writing apprenticeship with my dad.
I'm trying to learn how to tap into the power of my own being. I know it sounds corny.
It's just the more you do it the better you get, or at least that's how I feel in my case. I think it's a combination of confidence and just having done it this long and just learning. I'm always learning. I'm still honing my craft.
Sade's stuff is real deceptive. She's got stuff about prostitutes, poverty and people on the streets.
