I think my life actually changed at 40. That's when you realize you can't ride the fence anymore. You either have to get on one side or the other. I think some of my best years were between 40 and 50: I got my priorities straight and life is good to me now. It's only other people who say, "God, she's 50 years old!" as if I'm over the hill. I feel like I just started.

Believe it or not, I was just given an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Tennessee.

In the country field, we’re brought up in spiritual homes, we’re taught to “judge not lest you be judged,” and it’s always been a mystery to me how people jump all over things just to criticize, condemn and judge other people when that is so un-Christian – and they claim to be good Christians! We’re supposed to love one another. We’re supposed to accept and love one another. Whether we do or not, that’s a different story. But that’s what we’re supposed to do.

I am a tender-hearted person, and I feel everything to the ninth degree.

I love bald men. Just because you've lost your fuzz don't mean you ain't a peach.

I stay close to my roots and my family. I never want to forget any part of it. I'm still just a hillbilly at heart, thus a Backwoods Barbie.

You are the song of every bird, you are the poet's every word, every artist's picture, every writer's play.