"I wanted to pick something from Drag City and I went with Silver Jews because I think David Burman is such a great lyricist. It's funny when someone is alive, it's almost as if you're not allowed to say that about people. He's one of the best writers around. This record starts with the line 'in 1984 I was hospitalised for approaching perfection' [pauses] How much better of a first line can you have on your record?! I have a hobby of taking words and mixing them around. I can do that for a whole day, just taking four words and moving them around and mixing them up, just to find a combination that I think evokes something emotional, but David Burman is on another level. He takes language – nothing that's complicated on the surface – and puts it together in such amazing ways. He'll say things like 'Her hair was shiny like video tape' or 'the water looked like jewelry coming out of the spout', weird things you'd never thought of until he said them but they ring true. When you hear his records, he makes you feel like you've never seen the world before. So I commend him. This record is his Americana record, and I wish this is what people talked about when they use that term. He's a brilliant author explaining his vision of America to you - that should be Americana instead of some weird sappy throwback thing."

"This is Bruce’s first album and probably one of his best. There’s a richness and naïvety on this record that ends up in these lyrical paintings that speak something dear to my heart. It’s about my home, and it’s in a language I understand. I always felt like this was “our” record. The people like “us” who were outcasts growing up. It’s one part Dylan, one part Van Morrison, and then there’s this Marlon Brando part that encapsulates the beautiful losers. There aren’t any winners on this record, only people in “Lost in the Flood.” Even the brighter moments have a sadness to them. “Does this Bus Stop at 82nd Street?” says it well: “Drink this and you’ll grow wings on your feet.” Since reality is so hard, at some point the fantasy takes over. Fantasy, and die hard belief in a different life just over the horizon. It’s that fantasy of rock and roll that some people are too affected to believe in anymore. But this record helps me keep the faith in the childlike wonder of music, and rock and roll in particular. This was my rulebook starting out writing songs. It still is. For the lost, for the lovers, for the crazies, and everyone in between—""For You."" It was like he was saying to me and everyone I knew who lost but believed in spite of those losses, you could still win. “I came for you.”"