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.

Singers, musicians, and songwriters don't want to use the word "acting" because we want it to be more real than that - we want it to come from us: naturally, truly, really.

The line is very delicate and fine between being what one might call sane or insane, well or unwell.

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.

Artists are able to do well in the political arena because of fame, if only they can educate themselves.

Things are changing. They need to change more. It should not be of any note that a woman does something, because women do everything.

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.