I've never been one to learn scales and do exercises. Maybe I'm lazy, but I just don't take to that kind of thing. Learning other people's songs is enjoyable, and my fingers tend to go to new places because I'm not playing my music, the stuff that comes naturally to me.

More than any other instrument, the relationship between an acoustic guitar and a microphone is super-important. The kind of mics that you use and your placement of the mics to the guitar can radically alter your sound.

I read about two reviews early on when my first record came out, and it just freaked me out, good and bad, so I've never really kept up with that side of it.

New Yorkers are historically tough crowds.

I didn't know music would end up being my job, but I loved it so much I wanted to do it every day.

I would sit in my dorm room and write songs. I loved it. I was learning to sing and play guitar. I was becoming a musician. I was the beginner who somehow could write a song.

I love what I do. I love playing music.

When I first started writing music, it was to express that. I was trying to find God and trying to find meaning in my life. That's what my music was about. It wasn't to entertain.

My goal is to try to avoid a genre.

I was always into poetry and writing. So the urgency of spoken word is something that really has always appealed to me.

I've never shaped or crafted my music for any specific group of people. Whoever connects with it is fine with me. I don't care where they come from.

I love Michigan.

'Young Love' is about falling in love and dealing with your past so you can move forward. I wanted it to be a clear record.

Being from Oregon, it's part of who I am.

Minneapolis has always been a very special place for me.

Generally, the songs that are the scariest ones are the ones that people connect to.

It's a job, and it's challenging. But I love music and creating. That's why I got into music.

The first album was literally the first 12 songs I've ever written.

I've always been a writer. I've always done writing or spoken-word, hip-hop stuff with my friends.

When we tour, there's always this unique quality to every town you visit... Touring, you get a sense of a collective identity for different cities. That's one of the things I love about my job.

You go to a Springsteen show, and half of the people are there to party and forget about their cares, and they're being drawn to this visceral experience. And then the other half, you know, has lived and died with his 'Nebraska' album and considers him one of the greatest poets.

The criticism people could have of my music maybe is that it's somewhat schizophrenic at times. And if you don't like that, it could bother you.

I don't spend afternoons practicing my guitar to get better. I do read, though, to get inspiration for my lyrics.

There are a lot of great recording artists, like Jack White and Jack Johnson, who stay confined inside a very small box, but I'm more like Bon Iver, who recorded an album with programmed drums, and the next record was totally organic. I get that.