Can you invent a thing for which no one will ever invent a better version of it? Certainly, Dylan has done that for dozens of his songs.

In 1955, Bo Diddley released his first record. It became a #1 bestseller. The name of the track? “Bo Diddley.” It was a song about a singer and his work. That’s what it sounds like when you own it. When you sign your work. If you’re going to step up and create, it helps to own what you just did. You’re not simply another in a long line.

I'm listening to an obscure CD of the Silver Beats, a group of four Japanese lads who play note for note renditions of Beatles songs. They don't speak a word of English. And yet they sing beautifully.

Some people say Patricia Barber is a sellout because she’s a popular jazz musician as opposed to a starving jazz musician. But the people in the crowd don’t think that. I think selling out is largely about expectation, about being transparent and telling the truth to your audience.

I listen to a lot of Keller Williams, who is a friend and brilliant musician

It’s been on there for a long time and before that, there was a Charlie Parker record on repeat.

I am sitting is a completely American-made analog stereo with a record player, a ModWright amplifier, two small monitor speakers made in California, which are connected by this funky wire, and on the record player is a 45RPM LP of Muddy Waters.