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I'd say most of my songs I write from personal experience. When I feel like I don't have any inspiration in my personal life, I think about others that are close to me and maybe what they're going through or even just people I've come across, acquaintances.

I am a songwriter. I do get to put my personal experiences in song.

I do write a lot from personal experience, but I also embellish a bit.

The way I write my songs is that I have to believe what I'm writing about, and that's why they always end up being so personal - because the kind of artists I like, they convince me, they totally win me over straight away in that thing. Like, 'Oh my God, this song is totally about me.'

I learned that the songs that mean the most to me are the songs that I write by myself. While there were people I wrote really well with, particularly Gary Nicholson and Delbert McClinton, and I really enjoyed the experience, I came away from it feeling like I need to write by myself.

As a songwriter, I'm not necessarily writing about myself or my life.

In order for me to write, I have to experience life. I write the songs based on real life, and I perform them from a very real place.

I will say that a lot of songs that I've written are from my own personal experiences which are special to me.

You get a lot of who you are as a musician across through the music you write. If you're writing your own music, then it's important to be really honest.

When I'm writing, I'm constantly thinking about myself, because it's the only experience I have to draw on. And I don't see an exact reflection of myself in every face in the audience, but I know that my songs have validity to them, and that's why the fans are there.