I'm glad I can read

You know what I like?

Um...I know some things you like...

I like fiction. I like non-fiction. I like having other people's thoughts in my head and not my own fuckin' thoughts. I mean, you know, I like my own thoughts a good deal of the time, but not always, you know?

I know...

I'm almost finished with the John Irving novel and I've been listening to The Discomfort Zone, the memoir by Jonathan Franzen. Both are really great. I'm glad I can read.

Have you ever written prose?

Oh, sure. And I can be good at it. But one thing I know for sure is that I'm a songwriter. Putting lyrics and melody together I'm pretty natural at. Which is funny, because it's usually so hard to write a song, you know? Which, in a way, is...it has a quality that's just a mystery. And in a way, I'm glad.

You like the mystery, farmboy?

Yeah. It can be maddening in a way...Or waiting might be the maddening thing about it. Iris DeMent, do you know her stuff?

I've heard her on NPR. Wonderful voice.

Yeah. She's a great songwriter, too. She once said that songwriting is just waiting. And sometimes that seems so true.

She has a song called "Let the Mystery Be."

Hmmm. Good advice.

That song's about God.

(laughs) This is gettin' scary, man.