This album is political without being obnoxious - a tough feat. Did you consciously write it that way? I always try to pay attention to everything. I'm interested in everything. I'm interested in why the tape machine doesn't work! So I'm interested in politics. I've written some obnoxious songs about it over the past six years, and I just thought that probably wasn't what I needed to do. I needed to write a record that made people feel good about themselves and positive about the future. Give them some kind of hope.

Well, you've never been one to shy away from a cause. What's the most important thing you want a listener to take away from Freedom's Road? Forgiveness. Forgive yourself. Forgive your spouse. Forgive your children. If we want a better world, it starts with us. The first song on the record says, "Mean to each other, enough is enough." Of course, all of us are beasts inside, but we don't have to let that beast out at every emotional turn we take.

You and your wife have been on the receiving end of some of that hate in Southern Indiana, a place you have called home for many years, due to some of your outspoken political views. Have you ever considered moving? Well, I've considered moving since I was 21! I just got back to Indiana, and it's cold, and it's rainy. But not for those reasons.

Which song on this record are you most surprised you wrote? Good question. I'm surprised at a lot of the songs I write. Sometimes I can't believe I wrote a song at all. But maybe "Jim Crow" - I think it's a very unique way of talking about race problems in the world today. It says, "You can call it what you want to/But it's still a minstrel show/You can call it what you want to/But it's still Jim Crow." When I wrote those lines, I thought, Wow! How did I come up with that?