I really thought I wanted to be a musical-comedy star, but I lived in Phoenix and didn't want to go all the way to New York and be that far away from home. So I thought maybe I'd be a rock 'n' roll singer or an opera singer.

Not everybody is cookie-cutter. You just can't be. There are too many variables in life.

I don't like going back and listening to myself. It makes me uncomfortable, and I know I can never emulate what I did that night, so why listen to it?

When you're watching the news, how many days in a row can you watch that and feel good about yourself and the world?

I definitely want to be with somebody who doesn't feel lost or in my shadow.

... coming to a place like Nashville, which is just music music music, it's always been such an influence on me. And there are so many interesting songwriters out there, and it's such a crazy business and so many people are trying to do it, and it's all right there in Nashville.

The real terrorist threats are George W. Bush and his band of brown-shirted thugs.