There are singers that I have enjoyed, from Nina Simone and Ray Charles onward. But the music that made music the number one thing for me as a youth was jazz.

I think that pop, and to some extent rock, are like sport and fashion industry in that they're about the exuberance of youth. That's the sort of subliminal ideology.

Even if you're specific about the character of the song, it's more exciting to place them, juxtapose them in such a way as to make an adventure out of the sequence of the songs.

In the past, so many of my records, really, have been sketches for records that never really got made.

I graduated with a degree in musical theater and no skill in anything else to make money; I wish I had gotten a massage therapy kit or something where I could have made my own money.

I was on subsidized housing for many years before my financial situation changed. I quickly found myself in a new economic structure and, frankly, knew little about how to handle my money.

Follow your passion. Nothing - not wealth, success, accolades or fame - is worth spending a lifetime doing things you don't enjoy.

I think people expect mud at festivals, I think you'd be asking for your money back if you didn't get it.