“I don't feel like songs should be hoarded. I don't feel like one's tainted if somebody else does it. That's the mark of artistry - take a song that's maybe even a really popular song and do it your...”

“When you're writing with an artist or for an artist, you have to help them serve their vision. That's the cool part about writing songs. There are no rules.”

“It's man's work. My dad was gone at 4:30 in the morning and home at 8 at night, and he worked underground, and the last mine he worked in was 26 inches high in a lot of places. He liked the enginee...”

“Anytime that another artist or a critic that is well-respected says something nice about you, you're always thankful and hope that you can live up to that.”

“I always tell people, 'The music's free. I get paid to travel.'”

“Whether you like modern incarnations of what country radio hits are, or you like what I'm doing, or you like something really off in folk, poetry Americana land, it's all just music, man. If you li...”

“This world has need of song and sword.”

“Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter, sermons and soda water the day after.”

“I've passed up on many a thing that could have made me a big artist or something. Like, I was offered a feature on a Christina Aguilera song and I turned it down. It just wasn't right. She's cool, ...”

“It's amazing how easy the truth is to accept...No matter how strange.”

“Strange world isn't it?”

“It is strange, but nobody is shocked when pop singers make a fortune in the space of two years.”

“I'm not someone who feels anger on particular issues.”

“I'm very much aware of the dangers of becoming a cliche. Mr. Anger, someone who gets meaner, angrier on record.”