Interview by David Orleans
How would you define your music?
At the risk of pretension, I've been calling it Electricana - a mix of acoustic sounds and electronic experimentation. Lately, I think the term Digital Folk might work best. Really, I am just a songwriter whose songs are just dressed up according to my whims. I think with my new record I've caught some sort of steady thread that has been following through to my current writing.

Are definitions of your style or genre important to you?
Not really. I recognize the need and facility of categorizing music, literature, and art. These days especially, with the flood of media and information, it's difficult to navigate through the mass. So, I can see that a simple connotation can be useful to a degree. That said - it's limiting, of course, to lump artists together in a general group. Sometimes it's amusing to see who you are compared to, or classified as, by people.

The mainstream pop music industry loves to define a style and then market it with a specific formula. This usually gets started with a new sound and then gets carbon-copied (ie. Nirvana/Pearl Jam/Soundgarden spawned grunge). Do you think this is good or bad for music?
Well, of course, that is always frustrating. Listening to all the crap that followed the great Nirvana explosion was such a letdown. For a brief moment, it seemed that the artists had regained control of the machine - the whole industry was caught unaware and, not surprisingly, threw all this money at anyone with a soul patch. It didn't take long for things to level out again. I suppose that great art will always be cannibalized in the end, whether by people trying to make money, or by other artists painting by the numbers. I'm not really affected by that side of the marketing biz because I'm not in that world at all. The independent music scene is thriving now and, thankfully, seems to avoid those trappings. I'm sure the big guns are still shoveling out the formulaic gruel to the masses; fortunately, my high-priced handlers keep me far from all that banality...

Too much gets lumped in to the categories indie or alternative today. What do you think is a good label for the more introspective, but straightforward rock/folk that you play?
Not sure. I used to get thrown into the singer/songwriter class, and that was always a drag. I mean, I am a singer and songwriter, but that connotation means something different now - it's become so tired. Let's call it... "contemplative contemporary..."

What do you think it takes to have longevity in the the music industry?
I think persistence is the big thing - there are so many ups and downs that you just have to press on... that and taking chances...

What gives you the inspiration to write songs?
Songs come from everything - books, riding the subway, driving, relationships, mental illness....

Do you prefer touring or writing? Which is harder for you?
Different animals, really. I love traveling, and I love being at home and writing songs. I'm not someone who has great success writing while touring, so I generally keep the two apart. Writing is challenging, but in a much different way than touring, which can be more physically exhausting.

Which artists are your biggest influences?
Can't really answer this one - too many to choose. It started early with the Beatles, but it went haywire from there...

What do you think about the direction pop music has been heading?
Depends on which movement you are looking at. I'm not super crazy about the over-blown posture-rock that has been made in the wake of the Strokes, but there is so much incredible underground music being made now - really the greatest time ever for new music, I believe. Without all the big label pressure and hassle, along with the ease of recording cheap, you hear a mini masterpiece almost every week. How can you not be pleased watching Modest Mouse and Flaming Lips become mass hits? And the Shins and even Norah Jones?

How is the internet, Mp3 technology etc. affecting your career?
Online distribution and downloading and web sites and all that have been very useful. For me, the greatest advance has been how simple and efficient home recording has become. I think this is singularly the greatest force behind the recent explosion of great music being made. Pretty much anyone with a laptop and a microphone can make a record which, sonically-speaking, sounds pretty good. It's killing off all the big old recording studios. The online tools also increase the power of word-of-mouth exposure. Good music has a fighting chance these days - despite the budget behind it - to reach a lot of people. This is great news for indie artists, that there is a direct line to listeners without dealing with the force-feeding big companies.

It's 1985, you could see Prince or Michael Jackson at a small venue. Who do you pick and why?
That's pretty much a toss-up, because both were so slamming at the time. I would have to go with Prince, as he would really rip it up in a club, and MJ would be playing just the Thriller songs, which aren't my favorites. I remember once hearing a live recording of Prince from a small club in Paris, playing this 45-minute funk instrumental jam to start off a show - it was insane. He/it is just a supreme, major talent.

You could play 5 sold out nights at a small club or 1 sold out night at a big theater. Which do you pick and why?
The big theater - I don't play big rooms like that nearly as often as smaller clubs; it's always a treat to play a big venue...

You're exiled to an island and you can only bring five albums with you to listen to for the rest of your life. What do you pick?
This is a crazy question to answer, of course, but here's 5 for posterity:
1. Talking Heads - Remain in Light - needs no explanation.
2. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - anything really, but his final recordings for American are probably the best of all I've heard. I'm kind of obsessed with him...
3. Red House Painters - S/T with Rollercoaster - by far their best record.
4. The Clash - London Calling - maybe the best record ever made.
5. Andrew Bird - Mysterious Production of Eggs - just because I'm really into him right now...

Who's your favorite Beatle?
If I said anyone besides George, my friend Sally would kill me; she finishes every sentence with, "That's so George Harrison..."

If you could tour with anyone living or dead, who would you choose?
Seemed like Led Zep were having a pretty good time in the early days, eh? Maybe the Carter Family - going town to town before there really was even a record industry or concerts, just singing for the people. Or am I just being a sentimentalist?