The blues is like a planet. It's an enormous topic. You can't ignore the impact that it has had and continues to have on the whole musical culture. It's a tree that everyone is swinging from. Without it, I don't know where I would be. It's indelible and indispensable.

Waits received increasing critical acclaim and gathered a loyal cult following with his subsequent albums. On May 7 2008 Waits announced the Glitter and Doom Tour starting in June 2008 touring cities in the southern United States and subsequently announced a series of dates in the UK Ireland and mainland Europe. Waits made an appearance on the album The Spirit of Apollo by alternative hip hop project N.

He was nominated for an Academy Award for his soundtrack work on One from the Heart. Waits lives in Sonoma County California with his wife Kathleen Brennan and three children.