Work ... Is Redemption.

Isn't That The Goal, As You Grow Older? That You Start Reclaiming Those Parts Of Yourself You Didn't Recognize Or Didn't Think Were There All Along? That's What Happened When I Made The River And The Thread Record.

I Was A Songwriter; That Was The Torch I Carried. This Is An Honorable Profession. This Is What I Do.

I Needed To Carve Out My Own Place And Find Out What I Was Going To Do

Think About All Of The Families Where The Father Is A Doctor And The Son Is A Doctor Or Generations Of Coal Miners. Why Did They Go Into That Line Of Work? Because That's What They Were Taught. Or Was It In Their Genes? It's Not An Either/or Question. It's Both. I Was Inclined In That Way. I Was Sensitive To Music And Poetry, And It Was Around Me Growing Up.

The Religion I Have Is Music. Even The Times I Have Headaches, When I'm Singing, I Can't Feel Them. My Dad Used To Say That, Too, Especially Near The End Of His Life. He Would Be In Pain - A Lot Of Pain - And He Said The Only Time When He Didn't Feel Pain Was When He Performed And Sang.