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" I had the lyric 'Chip Don't Go' and a few words, and my wife came in and said that it sounded like a good song. I thought I'd finish writing it up and posting it to YouTube. I didn't realize it was going to take off like it did. "

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" I played soccer. I was really known as an athlete. It was a shock to people that I was doing music. They thought it was really odd. "

" I've never been one to learn scales and do exercises. Maybe I'm lazy, but I just don't take to that kind of thing. Learning other people's songs is enjoyable, and my fingers tend to go to new places because I'm not playing my music, the stuff that comes naturally to me. "

" I enjoy changing; I think it's more fun to try something different than to just do what you did last time. As an artist, you just want to keep creating, keep finding a place that really inspires you that feels fresh and new, and keep it exciting. "

" I love Michigan. "

" Songs like 'Learn To Love Again' and 'Rochester' and some of the more gut-wrenching ones deal with the pain of the younger times of your life... trying to make sense of some the stuff we probably all went through. "

" The first record blew up and sold really well. 'City of Black & White' didn't sell as well, and that's when you wonder, 'Did I peak already?' "

" Minneapolis has always been a very special place for me. "

" I've had moments in my career when I've made more money and had more success than at other times, but I've realized being happy has very little to do with any of that. "

" When I set out to write, I want to write something that will rip your heart out and connect with you. Great songs connect beyond genre and style. "

" I don't spend afternoons practicing my guitar to get better. I do read, though, to get inspiration for my lyrics. "

" I didn't know music would end up being my job, but I loved it so much I wanted to do it every day. "

" My first album was hip-hop influenced, and my second was more of a singer-songwriter album. "

" Hopefully, reading and being around great literature inspires me to write songs, but I'm not sure about that. "

" It's silly to throw things out or label things. You know, is U2 a Christian band, or was Johnny Cash a Christian country singer? I don't know, but they're pretty open about their faith. "

" There's something incredibly vulnerable about middle school for me. We're really impressionable during that period. The cement's still wet, so to speak, and a lot of things later in life are born during that season. "

" With 'City of Black & White,' I wanted a record that would make you feel good, that would sort of take you up in its hand and sweep you along. "

" I've always sought to get after something that's foundational in people. That comes through my faith, through my belief in life, through trying to hit something that's true every time. I think that's really where you move people, when you touch on something that's true, that's not based on fluff or based on a moment or a movement. "

" Ultimately, when you write from a vantage point of faith, humility, and openness to the world around you, people have to respond because those same truths are instilled in them. "

" When I was in college, I wanted to study film. My first passion was to be a cinematographer. So maybe there's something innate in my music where it partners well with images. "

" Choosing an acoustic guitar for a live setting can be different from picking out one for recording. One doesn't always work for the other. The sonic properties can be vastly different. "

" I would sit in my dorm room and write songs. I loved it. I was learning to sing and play guitar. I was becoming a musician. I was the beginner who somehow could write a song. "

" I love to play the songs that got me to where I am. I like to take a little bit from all of my records and mix it up. "

" You go to a Springsteen show, and half of the people are there to party and forget about their cares, and they're being drawn to this visceral experience. And then the other half, you know, has lived and died with his 'Nebraska' album and considers him one of the greatest poets. "

" I've never shaped or crafted my music for any specific group of people. Whoever connects with it is fine with me. I don't care where they come from. "

" The criticism people could have of my music maybe is that it's somewhat schizophrenic at times. And if you don't like that, it could bother you. "

" I was an English major in college, so I really liked spoken word and poetry; it was what I did before I wrote music. "

" I started as a writer. I didn't play music until late in life. "

" As an artist, you tend to gravitate to the opposite. I know, when I finish a song or an album, I'm interested in doing something completely new. It doesn't always happen, but that's the idea. My poor fans - I don't know if they love that or hate that. "

" I don't know how much I'm connected to the hip-hop scene, but I definitely lend from that urgency. "

" The first year I moved to Nashville, I started playing these songwriter nights with people like Nickel Creek, Duncan Sheik, and even Ryan Adams... That was the first place I really started playing music, and I had to really step up my game. Really quick. Or get kicked off the stage. "