As a songwriter, it’s kind of hard to listen to your own stuff with clarity.
I still have my first paycheck. It was just, I think, a dollar or two that I got when I started as a songwriter with BMI, and I had some songs there that I had through the company, and in the mail I got this big old check for, like, a dollar and a half or something. Somebody had recorded one of my songs.
I’ve grown a lot as a singer and a songwriter, but also as a person. I communicate better with my band, and our relationships are stronger and closer.
As a songwriter, metaphor is instinctual.
In America, you can’t say to your family, ‘Hey, I’m off to L.A. to make it as a songwriter; sorry I can’t pay for the dentist.’
Obviously everybody knows that I’m an original songwriter and I got my band. And the guys in ‘Sugar Money,’ no matter what, are part of my family and they always got something to do with me, and I don’t care if they just hang out with me.
I feel like, as an artist and a songwriter, I have to reach certain audiences and give people a little bit of everything.
