I'm not really a folk singer, but I love the music and there's certain lines that will get just stuck in my head, and they seem to be stuck there for a reason, and I start singing them.

I like to carry around extremely pretentious books, and I don't know if I can read them, but if I hold them near me, it imbues me with a sense of powerful intelligence.

I was listening to this record by Paul Desmond called First Place Again. It's incredibly gorgeous. There is nothing better that you would want to get from music than you get from that record.

I am a complete jazz nerd.

When I do older folk songs, I'm not doing them because they're old. I have no interest in reviving or continuing a tradition. I'm just doing them because they're great songs.

Guitar comes more out of its limitations for me, like putting it in a weird tuning and then just go places.

If I pick up a fiddle, I don't compose on it, so much as I just play whatever.

Reading books is fantastic. I didn't do it until ten years ago. It's great.

Amida's unimpeded light is the sun of wisdom that destroys the mind of darkness.(Preface in Teaching, Practice, Faith, Enlightenment)

Emmanuel Lewis was amazing to work with. I'll love that guy to the end of time.

I woke up many mornings not knowing what I'd done the night before. I'm amazed I'm not dead.

Our fate is determined by how far we are prepared to push ourselves to stay alive - the decisions we make to survive. We must do whatever it takes to endure and make it through alive.

I had no proof that I had the stuff to be an artist, though I hungered to be one.

It's important to give kids an opportunity to see what the world is about, and music is a fantastic friend.

You can't put a price tag on preparation for a pandemic.

There isn't an aspect of book creation I don't enjoy, and there has always been a book in my life to dream about or work on.

When conflict becomes a win-lose contest in our minds, we immediately try to win.

There's always going to be dreams and goals I have, but I never really tell people what they are