One of my favorite songs is 'Ghost' by Indigo Girls. Emily Saliers wrote that, and she is one of the most talented songwriters ever.
The first song I ever wrote was when I was 12, and it had, like, four lines in it. You progress and get better.
When you're all singing together, it brings things together. I know the songs that my grandfather and my father sang.
Sometimes the worst thing that can happen is, 'Oh, I'm on stage playing a song,' because you're daydreaming about something else, you're on autopilot. You have to fight that.
I often get ideas for songs on the tour bus at odd times. Like at 6am when no one is around, I'd just write.
I've written all my songs on every single one of my records, and that's what's been fun about looking back.
The most miraculous process is watching a song go from a tiny idea in the middle of the night to something that 55,000 people are singing back to you.
I've always written songs the same way. You learn different tricks - you learn craft, you learn structure, all that - as you go.
When I was about 3, my grandfather used to give me and my sister a nickel to sit out on the front porch with him and sing songs.
I wish I had a nickel for every song that I've left in the bathroom, written down on a matchbox, or just totally forgotten about.
It's always a mixture of fiction and your own story. It's more I recreate atmospheres and moods through songs.
When a song came on the radio that I wanted to learn, my mother would quickly write down the lyrics for me. Soon after, I would be singing it.
I sing songs that I have lived or I write them because I have lived them. I think the believability factor is key.
My career was really odd, because I literally had a greatest hits album out and nobody knew who I was. They knew the songs, but they didn't know me.
My first performance was in AP Calculus when they forced me up into the front of the classroom and made me sing a song, which was really scary, but it was fun.
If you look at my last songs and first short stories, there is a real connection between them.
I always choose songs that I have an emotional connection to, and I often feel myself getting very emotional when I sing.
It's weird, because the ideas in my songs aren't controversial to me. I feel like I should be able to sing about anything.
Just seeing people appreciate what you do, come out and support it, and sing the songs back, there's not a better feeling in the world.
I don't write songs thinking about formats, where is it going to get played, who am I gonna please, what's the outlet for it.
It is important that the audience should understand every syllable of every word, for only then can they grasp the meaning of the song.
