Musician

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.

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

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!

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

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

I'm always the most country person in the room.

My least favorite joke right now is Donald Trump.

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

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.

Everybody goes through something terrible if you live long enough.

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

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

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.

When I was about to enroll for my third year of college, I ended up dropping out and moving to Nashville.

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.

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

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.

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.