Biography

His blue guitar

His songs have been covered by artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Emmylou Harris, and Little Esther Phillips.

I was basically drunk for 12 years, and somehow I managed to climb out of it; I don't know why. Why did I get well when so many other people don't? It had nothing to do with any virtue on my part; if I were Christian, I'd call it grace. I just got lucky. Mostly you just get tired of it. So when you get sufficiently tired of it, you either descend into utter obliteration or you get out, and so I got out.

Not for a minute do I believe the songs come from anyplace but inside of me, but at the same time there's an otherness to them that continually surprises me. Why does it take so long for them to become part of my conscious self? It's an interesting problem, but I've talked to enough writers to realize I'm far from unique in that respect.

Since I started recording again around 20 years ago, I've been writing about the same sorts of things; it's just about my own growing perception of it, and how clear can I make it?