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First I was a European-style player, then I was a downtown 'noise guy,' and now some people call me an Americana guy.

I usually say Latina, Mexican-American or American Mexican, and in certain contexts, Chicana, depending on whether my audience understands the term or not.

For the most part, Americans speak of culture and politics as if they were two separate realms.

America is racial. America was founded on race. Race is America. The code name for America is 'race.'

On a certain level, I don't think there is an answer to what the American way is, because it is constantly being re-defined. It's also been exploited and capitalized upon and politicized by one side or the other to the point that a certain degree of cynicism has attached itself to that term.

I don't know anybody who doesn't hate being called alt.country. It just sounds like a website. I don't mind being called Americana, I don't mind being called country noir, or independent country is fine, but the words alt.country make me insane.

It's rural America. It's where I came from. We always refer to ourselves as real America. Rural America, real America, real, real, America.

America is an archipelago of tribes, a land where people form national families of kindred spirits.

Americana Music is about all sorts of different music. It's very free and open: a world where people just like authentic music.

A lot of names in America and Europe have their roots in Latin and Greek words. A lot of them go back to archetypes and their stories.