Mainly, when I ran into Emmylou Harris, that was it, you know? We could finish each other's sentences musically, and personally, too. We have a very shared, similar sensibility. And that was a friendship that really opened up a tremendous number of musical doors for me.

The essential elements of singing are voice, musicianship, and story. It is the rare artist that has all three in abundance.

Your musical soul is like facets of a jewel, and you stick out one facet at a time ... (and) I tend to work real hard on whatever it is I do, to get it up to speed, up to a professional level. I tend to bury myself in one thing for years at a time.

I think the zenith of popular songwriting to the United States of America was that period that started in the '20s and went into the '50s. It was the period of the great American standard song.

People have often written about me, that I did this for this reason and that for that reason, and theyre usually 98 percent wrong.

I think if the United States gave anything to culture at large in the 20th century, the most important contribution made was the popular song.

Love will abide, take things in stride.