Not hippie - my parents were not hippies - but they were very supportive and encouraging, and that does a lot for someone, and it gives them a lot of confidence.
“My entire life has really revolved around music that was written about the time that I was born, 1908, to just before the First World War and shortly after it. This music I've always known, and it is that music that's most important to me.”
“Every writer hopes or boldly assumes that his life is in some sense exemplary, that the particular will turn out to be universal.”