Sometimes you find your strongest faith in the darkest corners.Collection: Faith
Self-deprecating humor and brutal honesty is a really freeing thing.Collection: Humor
I never thought it was fair that women couldn't travel freely because it was dangerous. I'd stay by myself on the North Carolina coast for a couple of weeks, with my dog and my gun, and my mom would be terrified. I told her, if I stay home, a lamp could fall on my head. You can't spend your whole life inside because you're scared.
A lot of times, people say, 'You're so much like Loretta or Tammy Wynette.' But I feel kind of like one of the men. I'm like David Allan Coe. I've been to prison, man!
A lot of people like mainstream country because they're not given another option of country music to like that's modern.
I think it's okay to talk about grief and sorrow. Especially for women, when you lose a child or have a miscarriage, it's good to talk about it, as a lot of people don't want you to speak about those things. It makes people sad, but sometimes you've got to.
For a long time, I was very naive and very trusting. I Just didn't think anyone would want to do anything to harm me, but I learned through trial and error that that's not the case.
What I always liked about country music was the stories, the ability to talk about very real things like divorce and drinking and death and jail.
I know so many girls that have felt like they've been taken advantage of. Not only in the music business, but in every single career out there.
I worried so long that I would sing to empty bars my whole life. I was singing my guts out; there would be five people into it.
If you live through the death of your child, you should be able to talk about it and let other people know it's OK to go on.
From the time I was 20 and people would say, 'Chicks with Picks,' I hated it. It's not a genre, it's a gender.
I had this mentality that I had to go out to everyone's show so everyone at the end of the week would come to mine - that I had to go out and rub elbows, find exposure. A small part of that is true. But if something is good, people will notice when you put it out.
When I was about to enroll for my third year of college, I ended up dropping out and moving to Nashville.
I love Willie Nelson's 'Phases And Stages'; there's so many songs from The Band and Bob Dylan that have gotten me through hard times, like 'Tears Of Rage.' I love Karen Dalton's 'In My Own Time' and Skip James.
My husband and I had the opportunity to write some stuff for other people. We both tried it. I think it lasted about two weeks, and we both felt ridiculous. It just didn't work for us.
I had the most frustrating thing happen when I was trying to find a label. I sent my album to this indie label, and they were like, 'We already have two girls on the label. I'm so sorry, we just can't take your project.'
No one I hang out with thinks that a random person on the street should be able to buy a machine gun.
I taught and studied dance in college, and for over a decade, I thought that would be my career: tap dancer, ballet dancer, modern dancer. I still find myself doing some tumbling or interpretive dancing in the grocery store every now and then.
I'm a massive 'Seinfeld' freak, and growing up, I always wanted to be Elaine - but I think everybody has a little bit of George in them, even if nobody wants to admit it.
I'm not from the South, but I love country music. And country music is really big in the Midwest. Connie Smith came from Ohio. Jessi Colter was from Arizona.