Do you see songwriting as an organic process? What’s your take on the current lot of songwriters in the industry?

Anybody can rhyme moon and tune and June. But a true songwriter is the person from whom the song flows through, not from. .. I tend to step aside when the creative influence is at work. If I do that it will work through, for and as me. It relieves me of a whole lot of responsibility. It makes sense to me that if one is given an idea for a song that the rest will soon follow. Why would you be given just an idea? That makes no sense at all. If God gives you a message, you get the whole thing, not just the title. You just have to sit and be patient and it will soon come.

You had said that Derek and the Dominoes were the best band you played with…

We all listened and played off of each other. We were a sophisticated rock and roll band that was a cohesive unit of one. Everyone knew instinctively what, when, where and why to do what was necessary the moment that it was needed.

You let Coco Carmel take the lead for your latest album Esoteric, what was it to step back and watch things grow?

I always knew that CoCo was capable of doing everything when it comes to the creative process. In everything that she does, she does it extremely well because she lets the creative influence be her guide, whether it’s the recording process or writing and singing her own songs. It was difficult for me to step back but it was a lesson in letting go. To not get involved in the production took patience and focusing on my role, which was to follow her advice and be the artist for once and get out of the way of production. It’s very difficult to produce yourself and do it objectively. I hear myself differently than she does.