Writing is a really good first step toward that goal of knowing yourself.
I was raised really poor and so was my husband.
I was really inspired while I was pregnant and I wrote a whole album for my baby. I wanted to write a kids album that didn't annoy parents. I used The Beatles 'Rocky Raccoon' as sort of a starting place for my writing.
My whole goal is to keep my spirit intact. If that doesn't happen, none of this is worth it.
I'm trying to be in the moment and really enjoy my pregnancy. I feel really lucky.
I've always had a love for poetry and when I got signed to a record label I thought, 'How odd that I'm doing a record before a book of poetry,'
What's great about music is it takes so many kinds of people, including me. Everybody is in a different place.
So what are we given? We're also given, my generation, the disillusionment of our parents.
I have a life that I enjoy; I try and value the things that I think are worth valuing and everything else is icing. You know, it is a kick to go down the red carpet in that dress and then you go back home.
I never found much comfort in overly organized religion of any sort.
I've had mentors who were kind of the troubadour singer-songwriters, like Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, and that's just what I've always liked - people who would talk real honestly about their lives and their circumstance.
I love being in a band.
I'm not a partygoer.
There are a lot of things about fame that are not conducive to being curious. It's been important for me to cloister myself off.
Amazingly, I've been sort of an anomaly in the music industry. I feel like I've been able to exist as kind of a throwback artist.
On my own I generally have very messy hair, wear jeans and sneakers.
I consider myself a product of Alaska. The love and the debt that I feel to my home state, you always want your hometown to be the proudest of you.
I love playing big rooms. There's nothing like it. It's a power trip.
I hope that my life ends up being my greatest work of art, not just my music.
I sort of came out at the dawn of the Internet in the mid-90s and I think it helped break my career. I think I was one of the first artists to really benefit from the grassroots swell that can happen online. I don't know if I would have broken out without it.
I have a sneaking suspicion that all religions lead to the same place, a very unified place.
The writers I respect the most had an undying commitment to a vision.
I have this theory- that if we're told we're bad, then that's the only ideal we'll ever have.
I didn't mean to be a songwriter; I just was writing for fun, you have all day to do it. I was homeless so that's all I had to do.
My husband and I have kept a good balance between the work and the rest. I feel so lucky having a job, and I know so may people who focus too much on work, and their home lives suffer.
Records have never really been my strong suit. I've always been a much better live act. I didn't understand the language of the studio. You sing differently in a studio. The language, the craft - it's just a whole different deal. I avoided the problem on my first record by doing a live album.
If I'm a phenomenon, it makes me feel like I have no purpose.
I developed a loyal following. No one knew I was homeless.
I've always toured solo acoustic.
I think family mealtime is really important. There's a lot of research that shows kids are going to do better in school and have more self-esteem if you can all sit down and eat together.
Lots of people have gone from public housing to do great things in the world and have a tremendous sense of duty to their fellow man because of it.
I'm somebody who, as a child, had a lot of insecurity about stable housing, where I was going to be living, if I was going to have a roof over my head, all those types of things. And I know the impact it can have on you psychologically and emotionally.