So I guess my first question for you, since the year is coming to a close, has '52' worked for you the way that you hoped it would?

The short answer is "Yes." The first goal of accumulating a lot of songs that I feel represent me well and are quality songs, I think I've done a good job of that and being an independent artist and surviving without much help from anybody else for a year doing this stuff. I really enjoy doing it. But the longer answer, it really has taken a toll on just my desire to create in a natural way. I just kind of got in the habit of writing songs instead of letting it come to me. And that's a strange feeling since I've definitely been pushing myself in a way that maybe I shouldn't be. Most of the weeks I don't have that feeling, but occasionally I come across a week where I'm like "Ehhh, I don't really feel like doing this." And I just have to push through and make the best of the situation and that's a touchstone that I sort of knew was going to happen, but it shouldn't be happening [laughs].

Well, has it really been where you've written one song each week, or have you maybe taken a week where you maybe wrote two or three songs and recorded them and got them out of the way and then maybe took a few weeks off?

It was more that, it was more of the second thing. Occasionally there was a week where I felt really productive and I'd write a bunch of songs and then take a few weeks off where I didn't do anything music related. I haven't been in a situation where I've been like falling asleep at night wondering what I'm going to do. I've always made at least something that I'm proud of and something that I feel like is representative of where I'm at. I've come up with something every week somehow, so, I hope that makes it through the rest of the year.

As far as pacing and writing songs, has this been more or less freeing than working on a traditional album?

I think it kind of depends on how you look at it. In a way it is freeing to be able to write something and be able to put it out almost immediately. But at the same time, I guess I err towards the other answer, which is that it's less natural. It's a little less straining in the sense that I don't have time to sort of hone, to some extent, to revise as much as I would like. Lucky for me, I don't think I've had many weeks where I've needed to revise a whole lot. There are only a couple songs where I've been like, "Ehh...I wish I hadn't put that out just yet and I probably should've done better with that line or that line." You know it really just depends on how you look at it. For me, from week to week it's kind of different.

You've said throughout the year that you don't think that you need a label to be productive and profitable in music. Do you still believe that?

Yeah. I feel like what I've done this year is proof of that. I don't think you have to write 52 songs to be productive and profitable in this industry, but I just don't see what big labels these days really have to offer. If you know people who know other important people, not at a label, but if you can connect with people who can help you it doesn't really matter if they are part of a label or if they're part of something else. Like if I know somebody who is a music supervisor on a TV show, for instance, I have an advantage maybe. And some labels don't have those connections and we really are stuck because they really bank on selling CDs in stores and that's not happening anymore. I'm in much better shape than I was.

Do you think other musicians out there might take your lead and do something similar? Would you ever recommend it?

I think there will be more things like it. I don't know that people will do exactly what I did. I don't know that I would recommend it either. Because, like I said, there is something kind of unnatural about what I'm doing and I would prefer that every song that I wrote to be just, coming out at the time that it's supposed to come out as opposed to this-has-to-come-out. You know? But I do think new ideas of getting music out to the public is not something that is going to go away. I think it's a trend, and I don't think I started it. I think it started before me, you know. Writing 52 songs may not be the right way. It's just my way.

You mentioned that at times thoughout this process you felt pushed to complete these songs. What was the hardest moment?

There have been a lot of hard moments. I think probably the hardest thing to do, which is also the smartest thing to do, is push myself to create differently. And I'm not talking about recording to a schedule anymore. I'm talking about instrumentation and experimenting more than I'm used to. That was a good thing for me to do. And half of the time it worked and half of the time it didn't. It was hard to come to terms with that. I probably could've put out 52 songs that I wrote on guitar and that could've been it but I wanted to do something a little more well-rounded and a little more just bravery I guess, to just go where I haven't gone on past records. So that's something I'm proud of and that was also very difficult.

When you felt pressured, where did you pull the inspiration from?

Besides out of my ass? [laughs] I guess I read books occasionally. I asked friends for ideas. Or I didn't ask them, I just thought about what they're going through and talked about it. There's too many songs to write for this thing. I can't possibly write everything about myself so I have to go outside of myself for inspiration. And I was able to do that I think in an affecting way. Just finding other people and finding that they're going through something interesting and just talking about it.

Earlier this year you said that the recording process was limited to what you were capable of pulling off. I was wondering if you ever invented any creative ways of breaking out of that or brought in anybody to help you out with those things?

A combination of the two have emerged. I don't think that I'm a much better engineer than I was before, but I kind of figured out, with the couple of microphones that I have, where to position myself, how to EQ my voice, how to press this knob and don't do this and use this. And that came with just experience. And then, yeah, I did have a couple of friends teach me a couple of things about that. I primarily recorded on the Apple product Logic, and, like I said, it was just a combination of a couple friends of mine who are just well-versed in that, and sitting around and figuring out what works and what doesn't and now it doesn't take me nearly as long as it did back in February to record.

With all of the songs you have done so far for the project, which one is your favorite?

This is a tough one. There's a few that I think are at the top of my game, I would say. A couple weeks ago I did a song called "Mercy" that I think is one of the best things I've done. Earlier this year I did a song called "The Weight" that has sort of passed this test of time. Some of these songs I've put out and then I kind of forgot about them because I had to move on to the next song to write and I don't know if I'm ever going to really remember them until I listen to them. "The Weight" stuck around in my head and I want to play it every night that I have to play and do a show, and that's how I can tell that it's something that's going to last and be a great song. Those two, and then there's one called "Dead End Driving" that I did in September that I think are at the top of the list.

Because you have received so much attention for this project, are you at all afraid of being categorized as this gimmicky thing or do you think that people will think "Oh, he's on to something" once this project is over with?

Well, I would hope that people would listen to the songs. The idea of putting out this much material is obviously kind of a shocking thing to hear. But judging me based on that is kind of selling me short. If you listen to the songs it becomes a whole different thing. I'm really proud of what I've done. I think I've written a lot of good stuff. I would hope that people would really listen to what I've done.

What do you think is the biggest lesson that you've learned from 52?

How do you answer that? Hmmm. Never to do it again. [laughs] Well, I guess that I know I can do something like this. There was some doubt in my head about finishing this when I started and I guess the lesson I learned is just not to underestimate what I can do, musically, and not to sound pompous or anything, but I think I have a lot of creative flow right now with what I'm doing and I want to write more than I ever have in my life. And doing something like this was obviously a very difficult thing because I had to come to terms with the fact that I had to put that much out. But I did it and I kind of proved a lesson to myself that I can handle something like that.

Since the year is coming to a close, what are your plans for 2009 or will you be taking a lot of time off?

Well, I'll be taking some writing time off, for sure. I am going to put out the best of 52 album. I'm not sure what I'm going to call it yet, and it's all based on fan voting so I'm not sure what songs are going to be on it either, but once it's through I'll probably put it out in the springtime next year and I'm sure there will be some boring tour. I won't be doing 52 next year, but I won't rule it out for the future though. But I don't have any plans to do anything like it. I feel an album of the best stuff from this should take me through next year and we'll see where it goes from there.