I always sing them as though they are autobiographical, even if they're not, and most of my songs do come from something about me.

When I was sixteen, I began to think outside the box of my small town. Not that the people in my small town are in a box - they're not! There's a brilliant college there, and I had brilliant teachers from that college. But in terms of a conservative upbringing, which I did have within my own family, I just began to question things and to think for myself.

I don't care how somebody gets their education, as long as they have one.

By the time I was about ten, I had started to lose faith with church ways. I was educated in some ways by my high school government and history teachers.

I don't understand that about Taylor Swift, or about Joan [Mitchell] - how can she not say she's a feminist?! People don't understand what the word means. It simply means equal rights before the law.

Ten minutes before you go onstage and you begin singing that torchy blues song, you may just be drinking a glass of water and brushing your teeth and doing some deep breathing.

Feminism has nothing to do with partisanship.