I speak onstage to try to establish some method of communication. The songs are supposed to be a way of communicating. But speech and drinks and sometimes chocolates are also a way of communicating.

People naturally change a lot during their 20s so my songs reflect that progression.

Set lists are tough because you come up with this structure of how the songs are going to go from one to the next but at the same time you have to be spontaneous and take requests and change the set list at the drop of a hat.

These songs are old friends I have entertained myself with when I'm washing the dishes driving to the store and walking down the aisles. The ones that you sing when you're driving in the car and as a singer you always go back to them.

I listened to it last night for the first time since we started this project. I went out to my car and put it in and went to an empty parking lot and just listened and read the little pamphlet that came with it. After two or three songs I burst into tears.

I've made club songs and I've made radio songs and I've made the car songs.

A lot of the songs start with an image. I was sitting there playing the guitar and I pictured this old dirty green car with the window rolled down in the hot hot hot Texas heat and this beautiful woman I knew when I was a kid sitting behind the wheel looking out at me.

That's what I love. Not being interrupted sitting in a car by myself and listening to music in the rain. There are so many great songs yet to sing.

Of course I'm older now. I'm in a different place in my life than when I wrote the songs for 'Car Wheels' or 'Essence' or whatever. Different things were going on.

I could play it safe by recording songs that are familiar but am I expanding myself as an artist by doing covers? It's a catch-22. It's called show business: The word 'business' is in it and you've got to be a businessman. But then again you have to be true to yourself as an artist.