My favorite record, growing up, was 'Songs of the Haunted House,' a Disney record that was just wackiness. It's still one of my favorites, actually.

I hope I'm learning until I'm dead.

I was never super comfortable playing music in front of people anyway. Now I enjoy it, but it wasn't the easiest thing to get past.

I was in Screaming Trees - I wasn't really interested in playing quiet music in a live setting. But I would get asked quite often to do a show or open for somebody, and I always said no. Finally, I was asked if I would open for Johnny Cash, and Johnny Cash was one of my dad's favorite heroes. So that's why I started doing solo shows.

My family is all from the Southwest. My great-great-grandfather was at the Battle of San Jacinto with Sam Houston.

I set out to write an anti-parenting parenting book.

Family traditions counter alienation and confusion. They help us define who we are; they provide something steady, reliable and safe in a confusing world.

My family came to Newark in the '20s. We've been there a long, long time. My father's name was LeRoi, the French-ified aspect of it, because his first name was Coyette, you see. They come from South Carolina.