Animals have a much better attitude to life and death than we do. They know when their time has come. We are the ones that suffer when they pass, but it's a healing kind of grief that enables us to deal with other griefs that are not so easy to grab hold of.

I'm blessed to be able to work at something that I'm good at, and that I love. It's not something I take for granted.

I'm not going out there and doing the same material every night. I have this amazing audience of fans who have been listening to me, some of them since 1975.

You meet a lot of people and have a lot of experiences, and they color you and stay with you - but I'm not the grieving widow. Life is much more complicated and interesting and full of zigs and zags than that.

I really believe that we have a responsibility, almost a sacred responsibility, to the animals that share this planet with us.

When you're just singing a beautiful melody with a story that's true to the heart, you don't need a lot of embellishment.

Yes, I always say that were a National League band. What I mean is, if you play an instrument, you have to sing. So I always call our drummer up. Even the drummer has to take a turn on the microphone.