Life is never a straight line - it's peaks and valleys. Why would you want to be the same person every day of your life?

I think that every new record is a chance to... I think what it is for me is my heart and soul at that moment in time... I've always felt that just being able to make a record is a privilege.

So I think that if I do feel more freedom right now in my career, it's not so much because I have less at stake but more a sense that I've learned more.

Was it a light only she could see? A gypsy's spell? A mystery?

The bedrock thing of country music is, it's about storytelling. I feel like I was able to find a niche because I connected to that in some way.

Emmy Lou Harris introduced me to the work of the Vietnam Veterans of America foundation and the Campaign for a Land Mine Free World.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I want to try it again and again, and a lot of times my fellow musicians have to hold me back and say, "Nah, I think we got it."