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" I love Bruce Springsteen's writing, but I grew up on '90s hip hop, like Tribe Called Quest. "

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" There are a lot of great recording artists, like Jack White and Jack Johnson, who stay confined inside a very small box, but I'm more like Bon Iver, who recorded an album with programmed drums, and the next record was totally organic. I get that. "

" 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. "

" My goal is to try to avoid a genre. "

" The problem in this country is people gravitate toward one genre, and that's what they embrace. I don't understand that. If you hit me with Bell Biv Devoe meets country, well, I like the sound of that concept. "

" 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. "

" More than any other instrument, the relationship between an acoustic guitar and a microphone is super-important. The kind of mics that you use and your placement of the mics to the guitar can radically alter your sound. "

" For my father, he didn't know what 'Grey's Anatomy' was. He didn't know who John Mayer was. But when I showed up on the 'Law & Order' TNT promo spot, he thought, 'Wow, my son has made it.' "

" I think my faith is a huge part of my music. But for me, it didn't make sense to be in any specific market. I write songs for a lot of different kinds of people. "

" 'City Of Black And White' was me trying to do something more mature, more adult contemporary. "

Black And White

" 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. "

" All of my acoustic playing came from my songwriting. All of the chords I've learned and all of the voicings I play them in are a direct result of composing. "

" I think you can hear all my hip hop influences in 'Just Kids.' "

" I don't think, to be a traveler, you have to reject setting roots up. "

" I didn't start writing music until I was a sophomore in college. I would steal my roommate's guitar and sit on the front porch and kind of blend this weird spoken word and these little melodies over simple chords; that really started my whole journey as a musician. "

" 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. "

" I never wanted to be on an exclusively Christian label. "

" I'm really influenced by '90s hip hop. A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul were my heroes growing up. "

" 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. "

" It's been awesome going indie. I don't need to be on a major label. I love not having to walk into a specific radio person's office to try to convince someone to play my songs. At the end of the day, it's more work, but I've discovered that I like to get my hands dirty. "

" I've always been a writer. I've always done writing or spoken-word, hip-hop stuff with my friends. "

" 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 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 was an English major, and I always wrote poems. "

" I love Michigan. "

" Money definitely does not equal success in recording. "

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

" I think coming from the Northwest is something that's born in your blood. On my mom's side, I'm, like, a sixth-generation Oregonian. My family came over in the covered wagons, 'Oregon Trail'-video-game style. Maybe the pioneer mentality runs in my blood because they were all pioneers. "

" My dad was a scratch golfer growing up. When I'm on the road, I always bring my clubs with me. "

" I think, in a lot of ways, hip-hop is interesting to me because it's like the modern-day folk music. "

" 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. "