Quote

I always know I'm a country singer, and regardless of where I've fallen into different places with my music, I know that, really, I'm a country singer.

I think it took me a while to convince Nashville that what I do is genuine and my heart's in the right place, and I love country music.

I grew up listening to Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, so arriving in Nashville in the '60s was really exciting for me.

I was raised on a farm in East Tennessee, and my first concert was Britney Spears. It's my job as a country music artist to be honest about that.

I was tossed all over the place growing up, which I guess prepared me for the music business, but the one thing that has always been there, that has never ever left me, has been country music.

One of the reasons I wanted to do a show about Nashville in Nashville was because when I lived here, the hardest thing to go out and hear was country music. Country was taking place inside the studio and it was an export.

I was pretty gung-ho about music and pursuing that and figuring that whole thing out, so I was wide-eyed and ready to go when I moved to Nashville. I never looked back.

When I first came to Nashville, people hardly gave country music any respect. We lived in old cars and dirty hotels, and we ate when we could.

I had no idea when I moved to Nashville people just were songwriters. I had no idea. So I guess I was selling myself as a singer when I first moved here. But then right after I first moved, I started writing a lot.

There is definitely that thing here a little where people are like 'Oh that Broadway girl has come to Nashville' and I'm like 'Listen you guys, I was singing country before I even got a Broadway show. And I'm from Kentucky.'