I write songs because I see a point that I haven't heard expressed in other songs or because I've had an experience I think deserves a song. I also sing other people's songs that express something I feel strongly about. I also sing songs that just tickled me when I heard them, such as some of Bernard Bolan's songs. Those are just fun and silliness, to me. I look firstly at the sound and feel of the song, then at the lyrics. If the lyrics express something I want to say and the sound translates it well, I will want to sing the song.

I am quite aware of being young and idealistic and I don't try to pretend that I'm not. I also think I'm probably developing a self-image as an angsty social-conscience singer and that shapes my choices too. Added to that, though, I would feel foolish singing songs that don't mean anything to me, about someone's life in a place and time I've never been. On the other hand, a lot of my understanding of the lives of poor people in other times and places comes from folk songs. There.