'Smoke Ring' was a downer, then 'Wakin' was an upturn.
We play a hip-hop song and suddenly 25 people on the left jump up and put their hands in the air; then you play Lost Cause and they're like, I don't know about this one.
My brothers each reacted differently to 'Blood Sandwich.' It's a very specific type of odd feeling when there's a song written about you. People react to it differently.
The live audience, just getting an instant reaction off of an audience is the best part[of the show]. Being in the studio and working on your songs and listening to them back and doing all that - it's a lot of fun, but having that instant reaction and being able to work and vibe with an audience is the best part.
Sam Phillips responded most to a song of mine called, "Hey Porter," which was on the first record.
That's what music is all about, vibes. That's what makes people react and relate to a song, what makes it soulful.
If there's anybody who's new to what I do, who maybe heard 'Liberation' or some of the songs off 'Epicloud' and thought, 'This is really cool, I could get into this,' you're going to hate 'Casualties.'
The reaction that I got from 'Diamonds' I would have expected to get from 'House of the Rising Sun' or one of the other songs.
'7 Years' seems to have attracted a lot of age groups - people seem to see their own lives in the song, and it's great to see so many people reacting in that way to it.
It's very validating to have people who do what you do react to a song in a cool way.
