Where were you born and where did you grow up?

I was born and raised in Chicago, IL.

What kind of guitar do you play?

It's a Martin SP000-16. I got it new a couple of years ago after Richard Shindell got one. I thought his sounded great, so I got the same one.

What kind of guitar strings do you use?

I use Elixir strings, medium gauge. They don't ever go dead, which is great for me because I can kill strings in one show.

Will there ever be another Cry Cry Cry album or tour?

We don't have any plans to do any more Cry Cry Cry (a group I formed with Dar Williams and Richard Shindell), the album and tour were really intended to be a one-off. But you never know, anything's possible!

Do you have a songbook or any guitar tablature published anywhere?

I haven't published a songbook myself, but there's at least one site on the web that has guitar chords for a whole bunch of my songs: it's Ron's Folk Music Chords and Lyrics Site (I believe the address is: http://members.aol.com/rongrittz/page/chords.htm)

Is there any way to get a copy of your song, "Land of the Living" which you sang on the early show last fall. I have looked periodically since and have not been able to find it.

"Land of the Living", a song I wrote about the aftermath of 9/11 in my neighborhood in New York City, will be on my next album which should be released in February or March 2004. There's really no way to get a recording of the song until then because it doesn't exist! There is an almost complete audio/video version of the song on the CBS website from when I performed it on the CBS Early Show. If you do a search for my name on the CBS website I think you can find it.

How did you happen upon the beautiful song "Broken Things"? Clearly, it's a Christian song but its message of total abandon and letting go is one of true love in any relationship. What a sweet song. It's a high point on the ESD album, to be sure.

It's a great song, I agree. I heard Julie Miller, the author, sing it at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival with her husband Buddy Miller about 3 years ago, and I was floored, and I knew I had to sing it, which is how it usually is for me when I decide to sing a song by someone else. I met Buddy and Julie that day and asked for a recording of it, but there was only one that was long out of print from an old Julie album. Buddy sent it to me and I've been singing it ever since. Since then it was release on Julie's stunning album "Broken Things", which you have to buy immediately if you like that song. (In fact, it's one of my favorite albums of all time). It didn't occur to me till much later that it was probably written about God, I agree that it works just as well as a song about love.

As a guitar player, I was very impressed not only by your playing and sound - but also the effortless manner in which you were able to change keys by using the capo. The guitar stayed in tune without subsequent string adjustment! I realise repositioning the capo requires skill and sensitivity, but what make/model of capo do you use? I want one!

Believe me, there's very little skill or sensitivity involved! I use a Schubb capo, I believe it's called, you can get it at any guitar store, and when I put it on it usually does knock the whole guitar a little sharp, but not quite enough to cause problems when I play with someone else. And also, a couple of strings are usually made even a little more sharp, the low E and the B string, but I know that's going to happen and I just quickly adjust them by ear if they need it. I like that capo alot.

I guess I just don't like to obsess about tuning, when I'm doing a show I certainly could stop every time I move the capo and check every string, but I don't feel like it has to be perfect, and I hate to spend time during my show doing that.

When you record a song, how do you decide what supporting instruments you will add to your voice and guitar? In my opinion, too many acoustic musicians compromise their quality by over-producing their music when they enter the recording studio. Is there pressure by the record companies to do this? I would appreciate your take on this issue.

Well, first of all I choose great, great musicians to play on my albums, as well as a great producer, people I trust who consistently come up with wonderful arrangement ideas. So when we're getting ready to record an album, we rehearse as a full band for a few days and come up with the arrangements together. That's how we decide exactly who will play what. I happen to be a huge fan of guitars, acoustic and electric, so my albums tend to feature guitar playing. I think guitars also complement the kind of music I play.

And by the way, when we go to record the album, we do it live, as a band, so I'm singing while the band is playing. A lot of records are made by record ing one instrument at a time and then recording the vocal later. I think it's a whole lot more fun to do it together.

I happen to have a great record company that doesn't put pressure on me to do anything, I make the album just as I want to make it. I'm sure there are record companies that pressure artists to make a song sound "commercial" or "radio friendly" by adding all kinds of stuff, but I've never experienced that. And I would hate that. We always decide what to add to a song EXCLUSIVELY by what will make it sound good. Period.

Will you please, please, please, consider recording a Live CD? I think you are so brilliant in person and the experience would translate so well to a live recording. If I have any say I would like it to just be you performing solo without backup musicians. There is nothing better in my mind than one voice and one guitar. Have you ever thought about doing this?

I've thought about it a lot, and one of these days I'll probably do some kind of live CD, I would imagine with less backup than on my albums (eg, with just a guitar player). I don't have any plans right now to do it.