The record business is dangerous to the health of bands and individuals, which is something I'm just now learning. But it's not dangerous in any of the ways people think; it's not that they try to make you compromise your art. That's not the problem.

Everything around a writer, or musician in the record business, probably everything in all the United States or in all of western civilization, is about competition.

But my point is these Civil War songs were gruesome. The hatred that's so bad in this country today, and for the past 10 or 15 years, bad as it is, is nothing compared to the kind of things people would write down and sing back in the Civil War.

You know, the thing that struck me about Civil War music was how bloody it was; it was full of hatred. There was incredible vitriol in it.

I hit rock bottom before I even went there. Actually, prison was the rescue mission that God had put on me. He sent out his angels to rescue me. In prison, he protected me the whole time I was in there, and it was just for me to get my will power back, to get my strength back, get my focus together.

Sondheim is my god; I love the man. I learned a great deal about writing from his work, his lyrics, and his structure.

I have a God-given talent and I work very hard for what I do. Anybody can run fast. It's how you run fast. I pay attention to technical things now.

If our love of God does not directly influence, and even change, how we engage in the issues of our time on this earth, I wonder what good religion is.