I would always consider myself to be political with a small p, although it makes me mad when people say politics should be kept out of music.

I think that youth culture is now very deliberately designed by both corporate entities and by governments to not involve people directly. Because as soon as you involve people you have a small loss of control and as soon as that happens, anything could happen.

If you are a Steve Earle and you're up on a platform and there are people out there listening to you, say something to them. Tell them something valuable. Tell them something they need to know. It doesn't have to be dictatorial, it just has to be informative.

It would be a horrible business, a horrible sort of culture if you didn't have the candy pop as well as the real hard-hitting stuff. And I love some pop music.

One of the joys of writing music is making your own mark. Study other stuff, immerse yourself in music and then tell your own truth.

If you're a Brit you kinda get used to people being cold and aloof and just generally arrogant - particularly musicians. (Compared to Londoners New Yorkers are a walk in the park!)

Bob Dylan had been a big sort of presence in my life but I'd never quite registered what he was trying to tell me. He was always this kind of figure, a sort of bear-like figure in the corner of the room. You know, every time I imagined what Bob Dylan looked like, he looked a bit like Steve Earl used to look - with the beard.

I want to be accessible to a certain type of person who wants to walk around with their eyes open, or at least is open to the idea of change.

My generation in the UK, they're very apathetic, a lot of them.

I'm already 30! It doesn't really feel like a landmark. When I started out, my aim was to keep making records. Just because I've reached the 10th doesn't mean I'm going to rest on my laurels now!

I think the US and the UK are gradually growing closer together in a lot of ways. They're inextricably linked.

Sometimes you definitely need to just let go. You need to sort of forget everything.