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Below is a transcript of the interview for MetroMix Magazine by Matt Wake

Performing solo has many advantages—lack of dependence on other players, creative say-so, etc. Now that you have a full band, what is most freeing about playing with an ensemble?

    Playing with a band makes everything bigger. Standing in front and riding the wave is an experience like no other. 

Tell me more about the upcoming album “River Taxi Man.”

    Well first of all I should say, "River Taxi Man" is the recording I plan to make in the Spring down South in Asheville hopefully.  My next release will be "Exiles In Paradise" which I'm tracking for Tight Ship Records next month in Chicago.  To answer your question, in certain parts of the world, mainly in the jungle and the Third World, people travel in motor-powered canoes up and down the rivers rather than building highways through the dense forest. A river taxi man could be many things: a criminal or a saint, an orphan, death, prince Siddhartha maybe.

The hip-hop free style "Bluest of Blue" on your MySpace has a cool laidback feel. What's your favorite element or characteristic of hip-hop music?

    I think John Lee Hooker is the closest cousin to the music of the future. Hip-hop is what will be drawn inside next. Blues and rap have a lot more in common than has been realized. Hip-hop is more dangerous now than rock ‘n’ roll. You can blow people’s mind with it. You can do anything in terms of language and it’s all fully automated.

Bob Dylan, one of your most audible influences, just played in the Upstate. What Dylan record, song or period have you been enjoying most lately and why?

    I like Dylan’s new bootlegs because there are multiple versions of the same song on it. Each one is done in widely differently styles. It shows that he’s not just a poet or a musician. He’s a scientist too. Or a mathematician. What he makes can stand on its own and be combined with other things.  It’s like E=MCsquared was happening before Einstein wrote it down.

What’s the last record you listened to? What did you like best about it?

    Lately I’ve been listening to the euro-lounge singer Sade. I think she’s amazing. Her voice and what she says.  She makes me want to jump up and shout. That and Buddy Holly. Mostly for the same reasons.