I'm very fortunate and grateful to wake up every morning in the rural countryside I live in, looking at farmland and these beautiful mountains.

The song 'Hymnostic' is kind of a gospel song, and that song is really fun to sing with as many people as possible. And anyone can sing it, you know?

I think the idea is that every time we perform Big Red Machine music it should be different somehow - like, different people, different songs maybe, definitely different versions of the songs.

I do have a way of playing piano where it's very melodic and emotional, but then often it's great if whoever's singing doesn't sing exactly what's in the piano melody, but maybe it's connected in some way.

It's actually not that hard to play guitar in a rock band.

The National guys will tell you the same thing - I tend to work until the last possible minute.

I tried hard not to think about the scope or scale of making a record that would be heard by millions and millions of people. I did a pretty good job of tuning that out.

Anyone who's speaking up about anything becomes a target.

Sometimes you become the person people try to pin you into a corner to be, which is not really fair.

When you're working with someone new, it takes a second to understand their instincts and range. It's not really conscious.