My parents discussed singing every night over the dinner table; I had a tremendous music education.

I'm not a reactionary.

I don't want to be somebody who stands still and sings pretty. Each song is a world. Each song is a story. I don't achieve nearly what I want.

I've spent hours and hours doing research into Appalachian folk music. My grandfather was a fiddler. There is something very immediate, very simple and emotional, about that music.

I want to get out of the major opera houses.

We are unique, each human voice, not because we are completely self-generated, but because of who we choose to assemble the countless factors that made us.

Being steeped in the process of learning and exploring keeps me from becoming too nervous. Partly it's about not getting bored.