It was always difficult for me to listen to my singing voice for the first 20 years or so. I mean, I really enjoyed singing, and I enjoyed doing live shows, but being in a recording studio and having to hear my voice played back to me would really drive me up the wall.
There have been times I've planted stuff in songs where four years later I'll be singing it from a subconscious, kind of chameleon little lizard mind... and at a certain moment, all of a sudden, I'll hear a line from a different vantage point and it'll change its meaning. It's something I wrote but it changed because I did.
I would love to do much more singing; it's just one of those things where I can't quite describe what it feels like when you're standing in front of a forty piece orchestra, and there's nothing between you and an audience but a microphone. It's like strapping yourself to a locomotive, and I love it.
I'm really a singer, so I love songs and I love singing. I like rap music, but I didn't grow up freestyling.
The minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.
My singing days have passed. My voice is gone. My throat is worn. And my lungs are going fast.
Look at Loretta Lynn. Look at Jeannie C. Rily singing 'Harper Valley PTA' and Tammy Wynette singing about divorce. They were ahead of their times in a lot of ways.
You'd think, of course, it's about the melody - that's a given. But really, I'm no good at singing a song unless it has a good lyric.
I like to sing to Verdi, I like singing to Sibelius, and Mahler maybe.
For an individual, playback singing is not enough to sustain a career, and it is not really a main source of income.
I think too many people look at the arts with a religious outlook. Arts, music, singing and performing, it's all make-believe.
I can do an OK manicure, but I need to stick to singing.
I don't want to be an old man in a pub singing about Margaret Thatcher.
I found my own voice slowly. I don't do big tricks like Mariah Carey, so I've found this weird way of singing that works for me.
I grew up singing a lot of Martina McBride, Shania and LeAnn Rimes, and because of my age, those were my main influences.
I actually started singing country music at 4 years old, right when I started learning how to sing. I would cover a lot of Martina McBride, LeAnn Rimes, Trisha Yearwood, that kind of stuff, and it just feels very authentic to me. It's always been there through the years. Even when I was in my band, I still listened to country.
In terms of men being feminist allies, it's just important to speak from your own place. I'd love to hear men singing about masculinity and the damage it does to them.
Some people think my singing is superb. But they're mainly on strong medication and not allowed out much.
Sometimes I just think that there are more things to be said to make the audience understand what I'm trying to do more. When I'm singing, I don't want you to just hear the melody. I want you to relive the story, because most of the songs have pretty good storytelling.
Memorizing the song and singing it are two different things.
