How does the co-writing song process differ from the alone songwriting process you just wrote about?

Co-writing is quite different from writing alone. When I'm working on something alone I have complete freedom. Freedom to experiment, to make mistakes, to try things I'm quite sure won't work and the freedom to reconstruct whatever has come before and rebuild it like a bad water pump. When I'm working on a song with another writer there is the presence of…

Q - One of my favorite quotes about the personal perseverance and tenacity that are required to live a life devoted to the work of creative endeavor is from Ellen Burstyn, when she was on the TV Show Inside the Actors’ Studio:  “Divine dissatisfaction inspires you to go on … self destructive criticism stops you from creating.”  As someone who has devoted his life to the (hard) work that is required to make a living based on the outcome of a creative process, what is your reaction to…

Q-I'm sure there are songs that you include in every show. Is there any song that you get tired of singing night after night after night? Along those lines how do you keep the songs fresh for yourself?

A-Yes, there are songs I grow weary of.

It's a relationship of sorts that you have with songs you perform. There are nights when I'm happy to hang out with them, I feel close to them, we go for long walks together and hear Cat Stevens songs in our heads, we share appetizers…

Q-What is your songwriting process, if there is one? 

A-My process is to chase songs down with a butterfly net, catch them, pin them to a Shriner's hat, put the Shriner's hat on a drunk monkey, put a pinwheel in his hand and light the hole thing on fire. When it burns out there is a chord progression spelled out in the ashes and a lyric in chinese that is revealed when I sprinkle milkweed silk across the top of the ash. It's a mysterious…