And you find as a writer there are certain spots on the planet where you write better than others, and I believe in that. And New Orleans is one of them.

When you're at odds with yourself, it's hard to create. Sometimes the writing process is as easy as opening up the window and letting in the breeze. And sometimes it's like chiseling away at a block of granite with a pencil.

Especially when you've got your own mail route, day after day, it was an easy place to write. It was like going to a library with no books. You're afforded to just go do your job, and you don't really even have to think about it. You know you're on the right street and you're at the right house, and you're putting the mail in the right box. That's where I wrote a lot of the early songs, walking on the mail route.

I don't write songs about a specific, elusive thing. I write about love, and everyone knows what it is like to have your heart broken.

I wish I could write easily. I'm one of those guys who's visited by the muse when things are dire.

I've always been trying to write songs like Lightfoot. A song of mine like 'Come Monday' is a direct result of me trying to write a Gordon Lightfoot song.