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Willie Nelson, Marty Robbins, Merle Haggard and Keith Whitley - guys like that were huge influences.

I have been influenced by many different artists at many different stages of my life. Starting out, it was people like Elton John, Billy Joel, Ben Folds, and Fiona Apple. As I got older I got deeper into the work of bands like the Beatles, artists like Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Etta James, and Joni Mitchell.

I was influenced a lot by those around me - there was a lot of singing that went on in the cotton fields.

My musical influence is really from my father. He was a DJ in college. My parents met at New York University. So he listened to, you know, Motown, and he listened to Bob Dylan. He listened to Grateful Dead and Rolling Stones, but he also listened to reggae music. And he collected vinyl.

That's what I so admired about Johnny Cash and June Carter. Their music wasn't a big influence on me. It was their character, their individual styles, what they were like as people. They weren't afraid to stick out.

My influences were Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry.

What influenced me was Tori Amos, who was unapologetic about expressing anger through music, and Sinead O'Connor. Those two in particular were really moving for me, and very inspiring, before I wrote 'Jagged Little Pill.'

My influences are Alice in Chains and Elton John.

I was more influenced by players like Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen than by the guys in southern rock bands.