I really identify with traditional music - it's hard not to, coming from [South Carolina]. I consider punk rock folk music ... anything that's grassroots, people talking about what's relevant in life. You know, when I listen to a Minor Threat record—they're telling stories about where they live and what they do. But here in South Carolina, we've got a few regions. We've got the piedmont country and bluegrass region. [We've got] the coast, inspired by the Gullah people and African music. You can feel that throughout the south. There was a lot of jazz going on here way back in the day. You know how it is with any region—it's who migrates there and how the people mix with each other.
A lot of my songs are from being in one place [for so long], and growing up here. I'm a southerner who had a farmer dad, you know. "Fields of Cotton" wasn't written by someone who don't know. [I write a lot about] being around the culture of people who work hard until the work is done. So you can call me a folk musician in that sense.
One thing I really dig about folk musicians is that they're able to draw on many types of music. You know, bluegrass people influence traditional folk people; country swing people are gonna be influenced by people with West African influence ... so it's a melting pot. Folk music is a melting pot (laughs).
