It wasn't so much that I had to leave to make it in the music business as I was curious to be out on my own and sort of explore. I never felt that where I was ever influenced my songwriting.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
As far as songwriting, my inspirations came from love, life and death, and viewing other people's situations.
I loved a lot of different kinds of music, but for my own thing, I went for the singer-songwriters.
I wanted to play rock and roll when I started playing. Nobody at that time ever thought about songwriting. You sang songs, that's all. You sang other people's songs. That's all there were.
I've gone through the village of my songwriting and my artistry, and I've gone through lots of different phases, including one where it has been very quiet and abandoned me for a few years.
The whole point of music is being able to share your story. I've been songwriting for a long time, usually while on the road, as a way to get my feelings out.
Everything in life influences my music. I've always used songwriting as a means to share what I think is profound.
My experience with songwriting is usually so confessional, it's so drawn from my own life and my own stories.
Songwriting is too mysterious and uncontrolled a process for me to direct it towards any one thing.
My songwriting and my style became more complex as I listened, learned, borrowed and stole and put my music together.
I think songwriting was the biggest way that I found my identity.