I like using concrete imagery, but I don't feel that's what it's about. It's a combination of concrete and abstract to take the listener somewhere th….

If I'm writing... even a piece of a song... I write it down. If it still resonates six months down the line, a year, even five, those are the ones yo….

The way that I'm working now is basically the way I've been working since I was a kid: Find the greatest artist in whatever you do, and rip them off ….

The South of France is one of my favorite places in the world..

I don't like the way recording to digital sounds..

I remember when I was 5 or 6 years old, gospel music felt familiar, like I had heard it in the womb or something. A lot of those old gospel songs sti….

I have a very strong belief in God..

I learned a long time ago that fame and money is not a ticket to happiness..

There's at least one fist bump every interview..

I get most of my inspiration from older records and older production styles, and that ends up rearing its head in the records that I make..

The best live recordings capture elements of surprise onstage..

The songwriting style, to me, is superior. There was a certain amount of joy in it, no matter how sad the song is. You get joy in listening to these ….

Try to take your vision and ego as far away from the song as possible. Give as much respect as you can to the song and the initial inspiration..

I always prefer other people's interpretations over my own, so I'm not very quick to make explicit what exactly a song or record is about..

Every record turns into whatever the listener gets out of it..

It was endlessly amusing to me to try to imitate John Lennon and Paul McCartney's harmonies using the guitar..

I love the idea that I planned my career. I did not. It started out by getting invitations from artists that I really love and respect, to share a st….

I had the naive, simplistic idea that producers and writers and artists of the time helped in a minuscule way to change the mind-set of America..

My favorite recordings are the ones that feel like there were no middlemen in the creation. That's the biggest problem with most films and records be….

I've never used the word jamming. It's a matter of finding a great song and learning the chords, then slightly altering the vocal melody, and matchin….

I treat the act of making a record very much like working in a laboratory, experimenting with sounds and ideas. Whoever chooses to latch onto it, gre….