I was singing a lot of waltzes. And I was with Jerry Kennedy, my producer, and he was playing me some songs, and he said, hey, I want to play you this song that I'm going to get Jackie Ward to record.

If you want to succeed in life...you must pick 3 bones to carry with you at all times: a wish bone, a backbone, and a funny bone.

I don’t think there's ever been a point in my career where I've said, 'I've made it.' What does that mean, 'I've made it?' Made it to what? If you say, 'I've made it.' then are you finished? I don't want to be finished. I don't want to quit.

Being a strong woman is very important to me. But doing it all on my own is not.

You know, I get a lot of people pitching songs to me.

It really has lifted my spirits. It's intensified my faith, given me more hope. That's what music does for me.

I always like story songs, Dolly Parton, Tom T. Hall, Mel Tillis, Red Stegall, when they'd do their story songs. I was totally enthralled.