I’ve written a lot about southern California, but I don’t use the same characters. Leave the people in the songs in the songs, is my philosophy.

I hang out and sign records for an hour or two hours every night, and I like to hear as many people’s stories as I can, because if somebody wants to share their story with...

That’s what I used to enjoy so much: Bringing a record home, having it arrive in the mailbox. Having the whole experience of hearing it as you’re holding it and looking at it and reading...

A book is a journey: It’s a thing you agree to go on with somebody, and I think every reader’s experience of a book is going to be different.

Sometimes I do ‘So Desperate’ solo in the middle of the set. I really love to sing that song.

I try not to write songs in which men glamorize their own need for approval from women. That’s kinda a bogus way to go out. But I try to do this quietly. I’m not about...

Your creativity before it gets formed into words and songs is the actual substance. No one else can see it, right? Unless you give it the shape of a song or a painting or whatever.