[on producing 'The Ousiders', 2014] All eyes are on us now and I felt like it was important artistically to just be artistic. I think sometimes we forget about that when we make music. People talk about, 'This is what it's going to take to be successful, this is the type of song it has to be, or the type of album it has to be'. And I just think, 'Too many rules'.

[on the inspiration he discovered from the music of Kentucky singer, John Ford] My manager was in a vinyl store and he loves to to buy obscure vinyl he'd never heard of. And it had this crazy cover on it, called 'Harland County, Jim Ford', and he grabbed it and bought it and fell in love with it. He played it for me and I just thought it was some of the best stuff I've ever heard. I couldn't believe it. It was just very free. I had no idea who this guy was. I started researching. This guy basically got into drugs real bad, fell of the map and ended up living in a trailer in California.