I'm much better at fixing or changing a melody to suit me than I would a lyric. But for me, everything is lyric. It has to be true for me to say it.

I think that people respond to honesty in music, so I only choose songs that are the truth for me.

My parents made us do everything, try everything.

I don't know if bliss is possible and I've always thought that my best times will be later in life.

I still think of myself as from Illinois.

Some things feel really good to sing: there's a physical aspect, but there's more to it - a deeper place you go to.

You know, for most of its life bluegrass has had this stigma of being all straw hats and hay bales and not necessarily the most sophisticated form of music. Yet you can't help responding to its honesty. It's music that finds its way deep into your soul because it's strings vibrating against wood and nothing else.