If you had to eat any kind of pancake for the rest of your life, what kind would it be? – Mary
Man. I like pancakes. Am I ONLY eating pancakes, or do I just have to stick with one kind when I do eat them? Regardless, since this is hypothetical and I can be as indulgent as I want, I’d do a pumpkin chocolate chip pancake. Yes I would.

Time management as an artist. Making time to write, etc. – Jackie
When you find out, let me know. Just kidding. No magic answer except diligence and devotion to a schedule and a routine. Every time I read an interview with a successful author they say they treat writing like a job and do it every day at the same time…it’s their job so they attend to it as such. I’m not as disciplined though I want to be. The Daily Practice that I blogged about below is actually helping me out with this…I get to check things off and feel accomplished. Same applies for voice exercises and guitar and whatever you want to do…do it every day and you’ll get better. It’s a simple answer but it’s probably correct!

Who are some musicians who you can barely stand to listen to, but whose work was a major influence on you or your influences? – Richard
Great question. I will step right out into the folk singer fire and say I don’t listen to a ton of Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell but I know I am majorly influenced by them and who they influenced. I don’t even really dislike their stuff, I just tend to gravitate toward stuff that is a bit more contemporary. Also, multiple people have told me I sound like Edie Brickell and I have never listened to her except that one song that gets stuck in your hear when it’s on the radio. Gah!

Do your artists have ‘menu restrictions’ on the road? – Denisa
The folks I work with are pretty easy-going, although when there is a chance to request things I think they’d all ask for at least something a bit healthy because road life can get to be…well, fattening.

Why is it so hard to find a way to do things the easy way? – Sherry
A cruel fact, although I think the harder you work at it, it gets easier to determine the easy way on most things. A culmination of experience and training your brain. This is what all the self-help blogs I read tell me, anyway.

How many FB friends do you have purely because of a shared love of one certain singer? – Kris
Kris is referring to Mary Chapin Carpenter because I have been a member of various online MCC fan communities since the dawn of the internet. Well, the dawn of the internet for me, which was Prodigy and then AOL message boards and then an email list. Pre-social media, y’all! Anyway…I’ve collected quite a few awesome friends based solely on our taste in music from around the globe (Kris included), and over the years I have been able to take advantage of them in several ways like getting great seats at MCC concerts and staying at their homes when traveling. A few have even put Susan and myself up on tour. This is a great and friendly bunch, for sure. So there you have it, being a Mary Chapin fan has saved me several hotel bills. Perks, y’all.

If you could only listen to one album/CD for the rest of your life, what would it be? – Angela
If I couldn’t make a 10 CD box set mix tape, then I guess I’d go with Stones In the Road by the aforementioned Ms. Carpenter. It holds up.

How do you locate your traveling icons? – Deborah
Deborah is referring to the dashboard collection in the Sprinter that Susan and I have amassed. Basically, there’s no real strategy…you just know. We aren’t adding to it as frequently as before, because there is only so much space, although we have started collected buttons to stick in the ceiling of the van and there is a LOT of ceiling space to fill. Some of my favorite dashboard items include Jesus holding a Roswell alien, Pat the Non-gendered Pirate from Washington, a tiny Matchbox Sprinter van (meta), and a pile of glued-together rocks from Sedona. There is no rhyme nor reason, as it should be.