My love was Bob Dylan, but as I got older I realized a good ballad was a good ballad.

One of the biggest obstacles I’ve overcome in my life was thinking I didn’t deserve to be successful. Artistically I’m not as much of a heavyweight as someone like Paul Simon or Joni Mitchell, because...

I made my first album, and I guess it wasn’t a fluke, because now I’m on my 16th.

Religion is for those who are scared of hell, and spirituality is for those who have been there.

Nobody taught me to play bottleneck. I just saw it and taught myself. I got an old bottle and steamed the label off, put it on the wrong finger, I basically did everything wrong until...

I’m honored when young people say they’ve gone to school on slide guitar with my records. But people get their influence from my live shows and records and YouTube, not me personally. I walk around...

Playing guitar was one of my childhood hobbies, and I had played a little at school and at camp. My parents would drag me out to perform for my family, like all parents do, but...

Superficial pop will always exist – there’ve always been Fabians – but when people like Dire Straits and Bruce Hornsby start having hits, it suggests that there’s a revolution going on in music.

People say, ‘Gee, you don’t really do political music.’ Well, I sing a lot of songs about how men and women and lovers treat each other, and none of us want to be talked down...

I’m not that beautiful, and I don’t want to be a pop star.

Religion is for people who are scared to go to hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there.

The anti-nuke movement has important and far-reaching implications for grassroots organizing. It can unite kids and musicians, everybody, whether they’re leftist or rightist, or radical, or Republican, because energy is energy. But in fact, it...

Sometimes I’m more true when I’m up onstage than I’m able to be in my regular life. It’s not as exciting to be at home, but I’ve got to learn how to make that work,...

I think I’m a living embodiment of, ‘Don’t try to push me around or squash me,’ whether its how I talk to a record label or in my relationships.

Sometimes I don’t go into the studio for quite a while because I haven’t found enough good songs. They have to have a certain caliber and connect with me because I’m going to be playing...

I do feel my loved ones that have passed on; I feel them looking over my shoulder… So yeah, that’s pretty profound, when you’re not expecting it, you didn’t particularly believe in it and then...

It is still a surprise when people tell me that I’ve had an influence on them, particularly when it’s someone I really respect.