The songs are definitely all about me. I am my favourite subject.

I love the sad songs with their maudlin, self-deprecating, almost funny lyrics. As an Englishman, they make a lot of sense.

Most artists never get a chance to be Picasso, but that doesn't mean you would stop painting.

The state of radio is not great. It's like playing the lottery. The chances of hitting are mind boggling slim.

I come from a place where there's a lot of musical families.

I'm never worried about being upstaged. I love to have the best, most individual people come in and see if we hit on something.

For a long time I was trying to be poppier and younger. I didn't want to be on public radio or do any of that stuff for older people. Then I realized that that is exactly what I listen to.

I don't try to stop myself from becoming too personal. I just put it all out there. If anything, I try to remind myself to be as honest as possible all the time. Why hold back?

Country music was the music I was brought up on. It's the music that's closest to my heart and the music that speaks to me the most, and it's always been a big influence on my own songwriting.

Everyone's different, but it was fun for me to work with Garth Hudson. He's from 'The Band.' They are a massive influence, that was a big thrill. He's completely out of his mind.

I do think it's probably true to a certain extent that you tend to sing music that fits your voice. If you're Lou Reed, you're unlikely to become a country singer.

A great wind is blowing, and that gives you either imagination or a headache.

I find writing very difficult. It's hard and it hurts sometimes, and it's scary because of the fear of failure and the very unpleasant feeling that you may have reached the limit of your abilities.

Everyone always asks me who my muse is, or who's the girl I have in mind, which is such a hard question for me to answer because I feel like it's a sensibility that varies for each individual.

If you don't get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don't want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever.

Has your relationship with God changed the way you live your life?

The greatest misfortune of the wise man and the greatest unhappiness of the fool are based upon convention.

I have replaced my instinct for secrecy with an instinct for confession.

The number of vacations me and my husband have canceled... if you really want a job, book a non-refundable vacation. But obviously we're blessed too.

Tell me who is able to keep his bed chaste, or which goddess is able to live with one god alone?

I feel like I partly came to writing through being in college during the start of the Iraq war, and knowing that those issues mattered lot to me, and wanting to go see for myself.