I'm one of those people who just doesn't plan my personal life. I plan my professional life.

I would like to inspire a lot of people to be active and give back.

I have been really heartened by how much coverage there has been about inequality of pay across the board, between the entertainment industry and almost every industry worldwide. And just the problem of young women not getting an education, not being able to have an equal position in the cultures all around the world.

I think my fans will follow me into our combined old age. Real musicians and real fans stay together for a long, long time.

You don't have to look a certain way to have a hit record.

Solar power is the last energy resource that isn't owned yet - nobody taxes the sun yet.

I'm sure I would have been considered a more significant artist if I was a singer-songwriter. It's just not the way I roll. I love being a curator and a musicologist. People write me letters and thank me for turning them on to Fred McDowell and Sippie Wallace, and that's partly my job this time around.