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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.

No one I hang out with thinks that a random person on the street should be able to buy a machine gun.

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.

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!

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.

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'm always the most country person in the room.

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.'

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.

Sometimes you find your strongest faith in the darkest corners.

It's easy to be a people-pleaser, but that's not what makes me happy.

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.

I remember when I got pregnant, I had several peers of mine, women, who said to me, 'Now that you're pregnant, you're probably gonna give up the music thing, right?' I was like, 'I'm not crippled. I'm just having a baby.'

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 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.

A lot of people like mainstream country because they're not given another option of country music to like that's modern.

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.

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.

My least favorite joke right now is Donald Trump.

A lot of times when I play a show, I'm the only girl on the bill. We're a minority, for sure.

You can't let every bad thing that happens to you in your life overtake you.

I'm from a really small town, and everybody there drives trucks. They're all farmers.

Self-deprecating humor and brutal honesty is a really freeing thing.

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.

When there's not much to do, you find things to do that get you in trouble.