Any song I don't feel good about, I shelve. Anything you ever hear me sing, it's because I want to.

Like all soul singers, I grew up singing in church but sometimes I would leave early and sit in the car listening to gospel band, The Blind Boys of Alabama. Hearing their lead singer Clarence made me connect the idea of church and show business and see how I could make a career singing music that stirred the soul.

I was very inspired by my mother. She was a vocal teacher and sang in a band, and my first memories of her were going out with her on the local circuit.

If you work hard and you're good, you can build something for yourself.

I love antique architecture, so if I have any indulgences, I have owned and renovated and reconstructed a lot of old houses.

I definitely dislike pomposity and artifice. I hope that I'm not that. Once I write a song, it belongs to the world, and the way people perceive it, it's cool.

If Paul McCartney tells me that so-and-so song is his favorite song, what do I care? What do I care what anybody else says?