Ideals are not something I can control. It's not logic that convinces me of something, it's what my heart says. My heart has a way of involving me in things, which can only be good for the music.

As I look back over my life, before I had any real identity, I was a traveler. I grew up an Army brat, a runaway, an activist, and a musician. All my life I've been traveling.

I accepted a change in my life. I didn't choose that change and those are the best changes to make.

I think people have to choose between living with contradictions or painting themselves into a corner. I have a lot of contradictions.

I think the word soul has gotta come into it. Music that's created just for consuming lacks that soul, that swing, that feeling.

I try to look at this music career thing as the means to an end. And really, at the end of it, I see myself on a sailboat, sailing off the edge of the world.

I walked along that slippery slope where if you fail through lack of faith, you sell your soul to the devil.

I'm a perfectionist, which I think is a mistake.

I've been through some dark times but I've experienced joy too. Now that joy can't be suppressed.

Make your own music. It can be done.

Music is not a commodity, it's a resource.

Music is too important to be left to professionals.

My grandmother had a Miss Margaret's School of Dance to teach tap and ballet to kids, but I never studied it. I was raised a Mormon and they're dancing fools. It's the only vice they have - dancing.

People might say I'm difficult, but did you ever hear anyone describe a label as 'difficult'? By nature, artists should challenge. When they call you difficult, it is a reflection of the imbalance of power.

The thing I fail to do is fully comprehend what's given back to me by the audience. You would think you would be a performer partly so you could feel all the appreciation or adulation, but I haven't quite managed that yet.