Growing up, I was always around adult musicians who played for their entire lives. So that's what I wanted to do, and I always had that in mind.

Growing up in Dallas, my first influences on the guitar were T-Bone Walker and Les Paul. T-Bone taught me how to play lead guitar behind my head and do the splits in 1951 when I was nine.

I think the audiences abroad are older and come from a more mature society. They have a different understanding of whats happening as art.

You have to know what your value is. I started learning my value when I was 12 years old.

I think we've all been misled, at moments in our lives, certainly in school situations, and things like that, with getting with the wrong group briefly, or falling in with someone who we learn the truth about and no longer want to really be with.

My mom never went to college, so she just assumed the writer identity, and that was always really inspiring to me. It's not something you need nine levels of education for. It's really an identity that you claim for yourself, and then you have to make yourself one.

I think that for me, as a UNC graduate, I value my education - I think everyone who's gone to that university values education.

The benefits of prison education go beyond lowering recidivism rates and increasing post-release employment. It can also rekindle a sense of purpose and confidence.