I've always admired people who can tell a story with a simple song. You don't need much more than a guitar or a piano and a voice. That's what I've responded to, even when I was a kid. Even now, I like to think that both Joni [Joni Mitchell] and I are expressing some sort of truth -- hers might be just a little deeper, that's all.

[on his tradition of bouncing the original ideas for his songs off his wife, Erin] I'll say something, like an idea for a song or whatever, and if she laughs then I'll start writing it, and if she doesn't, I don't even bother. Luckily, she has a good sense of humor.

"Lullaby" was the first song I wrote where I felt like, "Wow, I nailed it!" I don't want to say that people can relate to it--actually, you kind of hope that nobody can relate to it. But it seemed to me that the style had become subtler. And I saw how to set a course at the beginning, turn 90 degrees, and then once you think you know what's going on, turn it around again. That's pretty much how I've worked ever since then.