I was raised in bars. My grandmother had one, and when I was 12 years old I'd go stay with her and that's where I got to watch her band play -- she had a seven or eight-piece band, and I would sit in the kitchen and peek through the door. I was kind of a 12-year-old bottle washer.

I don't give a bleep if gays get married. That's just a contract, and that's between them and God. That ain't up to me to play God on that.

Writing songs and looking for ideas is like blinking my eyes. It's an involuntary muscle. I do it without thought.

There's something I'm afraid to say to you too early, but I'd be a fool to wait too late.

Health care's a great example. We spend billions of dollars a year in foreign aid helping people in countries where the money never gets to see the bottom tier, because the bad, corrupt politicians in the government that they have there end up taking what we give them.

I sobered up and I got to thinking, girl, you ain't much fun since I quit drinking.

Writing is not work. In fact, theres nothing better. Writing is something that if the music business went completely away tomorrow - radio stations quit existing and music quit being popular and it was old hat - I would still write songs.