"For 'Way Down Low', I was particularly inspired by a breakup I was going through and a transition I was making from Austin to New York."

"Jazz is progressive, and it's alive."

"Very often, writing a song is a process that happens to me rather than one that I instigate. I feel a song coming on and, like a sneeze; I wait for it until it comes."

"When I was driving home after registration, I heard this song on the radio, a guy singing about not ever going to class in college and always hanging out and singing for his friends. I laughed and said, I can relate, because it was so much like me. I realized right then I would pull out of school and pursue a music career."

"I feel like writing a book there's always a version in your head that's an amazing version, but then you write the version that you can write."

"If you wish to be a writer, write."

"I never abandoned either forms or freedom. I imagine that most of what could be called free verse is in my first book. I got through that fairly early."

"A great many people seem to think writing poetry is worthwhile, even though it pays next to nothing and is not as widely read as it should be."