It's pretty rare in jazz to have a full-on steady band.

It's a beautiful thing to have time in the world, as a singer and as a musician, to make friends with people of the musical caliber of a Tommy Smith, an Arturo Sandoval, a Richard Galliano, a Till Broenner.

I'm a goof, man.

I'm a guy who has more slapstick than Joe Cool moments in his day, so I'm not taking myself so seriously.

I couldn't do what I do without the encouragement and influence of the musicians I played with in Chicago.

Chicago is my home. And the way Chicago sounds will always be a part of who I am.

With a smaller setting, you have a lot more freedom and flexibility within a given moment, but not necessarily the velocity you have with a big band.

Sometimes, with vocalese, I'm dealing with something, a great solo from the past, which is so iconic I can't presume to change it or mess with it.

I benefit from a change of scenery; it's always inspiring.

I can be chill. That's a side of me that I like. But then, I can also be not so chill. I can get a little stressed out.

Even when I haven't played in a while, I can sit down and start with a chord, and just drop into it. It's like this tunnel I go into. The zone is where I want to live.

I think that I identify with Philadelphia for a lot of reasons. Without even thinking about it, I called myself 'Philly's Constant Hitmaker' when I first got a MySpace, before I had any real hits. It was kind of just a funny slogan, basically lifted from the Rolling Stones' first album, 'England's Newest Hit Makers.'

Finger-picking, in general, is a hypnotic thing. I feel like I'm more A.D.D. all the time, so the music has to be hypnotic.

No offense to Boston, but I was glad to get out of there. I think it's just because I'm from Philly. Honestly, the blue collar side of each are pretty similar in ways, but something about the makeup of your brain, Philly versus Boston. It's a lot different, in weird ways.

I walk around a lot. People come up to me and say 'Hi,' but not that often. I mean, I get it plenty often, but sometimes I wish they'd come up to me more! I mean, I'm just a regular guy.

I go through ups and downs in the psyche all the time, and then once you start moving again, it's amazing how you can always bounce back. You get, like, in a low rut, and you think, 'This is it; my life is a train wreck.' And then you bounce back again.

I got depressed so many times by my blue-collar life and self-conscious about the fact that I didn't go to college. I was always working super low-end jobs, being the complete opposite of what I wanted to be.

I'm not cynical, but the reality is that life is mortal. Terrible, sad things happen. Everybody loses friends and family. I'll be on tour and get really scared if my wife won't answer her phone within one minute. I'm sensitive.

I think if you just travel in general, it allows you to step outside of yourself and whatever you're familiar with.

Around '93, the radio started playing 'Loser' by Beck and 'Cut Your Hair' by Pavement, and then I got way into Pavement. That was kind of a gateway drug into indie rock. I got all their B-sides, and I got that 'Hey Drag City' comp, so I got into all those Drag City bands.

Philly's busy enough. There are tons of record stores and record-head friends and plenty of D.I.Y. shows. It's a place where people pass through and bands don't usually skip on tour. There are lots of music resources, but it's not too over the top.

I've always been a deep sleeper; because I come from such a large family - there are 10 kids - I could sleep through anything. Even with my last day job, I'd sleep in later and later and start coming in an hour-and-a-half late. I got fired twice before I really got fired.

I love polished pop music, but stuff like Neil Young's Crazy Horse vibe or Waylon Jennings, that stuff is raw and real.

After I play a gig, I'm like a different person: I have superhuman strength.

When I was 20, I moved up to Boston with my girlfriend, who's now my wife. She went to grad school, and I met a bunch of cool friends there.

Anybody that's from somewhere that's made it in music outside of New York or L.A., if it's a unique enough place, they'll always say, 'Dude's from Minnesota!' Or wherever, you know? So that's how I got the Philly connection.

I'm always working on music.

Life is so beautiful, but there are all these scary things you can't deny.

My dad's really funny. The male sense of humor - like my grandfather's and such - is pretty bizarre. Basically my dad's side of the family is where the bizarreness comes from. It's a little goofy and a little out there.

I like a well-rounded life. All of this work is kind of useless if you don't have something good to come home to.

John Prine in particular... just the chord changes combined with the words. He definitely can make you cry a little bit. Just a little bit.

That Yo La Tengo record, 'Painful,' has got some real awesome, noisy, mellow heartbreakers.

When I first got the record deal, I thought it felt like I won the lottery. But I always worked hard at it.

I feel like when I say something sad, I mean it.

Cigarettes are the worst thing in the world for you.

I like New York. I like Philly. I like San Fran. I like when people are stoked. But Chicago's a real music town, and they're really good to us there. There's just something in the air there; people are just really stoked about music. Every time I go there, I have a great time, and the fandom is really heartwarming.

A lot of getting a song done is booking the studio time.

Every time I play with somebody, your perspective gets a little extended. It always rounds you out a little more in some way.

I always sort of liked Mesa/Boogies, but I wasn't sure if they were cool or not cool.

That's one of my favorite Matador records: Cat Power, 'You Are Free.'

I really love that 'I Can Feel the Heart Beating as One' Yo La Tengo record a lot.

I really like Cold Cave.

I've always been a music fan. I played trumpet. When I was in 4th grade, we were getting demos from the music teacher about different instruments we could play, and I said I wanted to play the trumpet right away. It was easy: it just had three valves.

I don't have anything to get off my chest. I'm not itching to prove myself anymore.

If I sit in the same square room and work on something too long, I feel like you just go mad.

My music has to be funny and sad and happy and loving; it's gotta have it all. When somebody's just too dark all the time, it's just drama. Or if somebody's too funny? Well, I like being too funny sometimes.

On one level, we're on Matador, but our amps still might explode on stage, or they'll be an echo in the mic. It's like climbing a ladder. I like to climb it really slowly. I could probably get really professional right away, but I like to take baby steps and find my own way.

I feel like my music is like - there are always new influences in there.

I go in and out of mental funks all the time 'cause it comes with the territory.

There's so many FM hits that I love. Bob Seger, there's two of his songs that I love. I would probably love more, but I don't sit around listening to Bob Seger records. It's the same thing with Tom Petty; he writes amazing hits, but it's not often that I sit around at home listening to a whole Tom Petty album.