When I was a teenager, I went to Europe on a backpacking trip by myself, and I met a woman who was following Sebadoh. It was the early 1990s, and that was my introduction to indie rock.

It's funny how a song can start in your mind, and then when it goes through all the filters, it ends up in a totally different spot.

In your mid-30s, you have to take inventory, or you'll stumble.

My mother had a great vinyl collection, and she was constantly playing female singer-songwriters. I first learned about classic song structures by listening to them, and Laura Nyro particularly stood out. Her voice was outside what you'd usually hear on the radio; that really appealed to me.

I demo all of my songs on Garage Band, where I pretty much play everything - not very well, but I manage to hammer out a drum beat and a bass idea.

I felt like onstage I have to have a certain amount of anonymity, like, personal anonymity, to feel loose and free. When you're up there with people who've known you for a decade, and you make a bad joke and you hear the cackling behind the drums, it's hard to get lost in the moment.

It really helps me to get into the character of the record when I have a designated look. It just really simplifies things for me.

When you make a solo record, it's you. It's your name. It has to be the right songs for how you feel.

My hair looks so good out in the desert, it's unbelievable. It's, like, perfectly not frizzy.

I can't imagine how people will react to my music. For me, it's a really fluid process from one record to the next, but it's really up to the listener.

Being in a band is a really magical thing because you've got a family and you operate as this one entity. It's very democratic; everyone is involved in the output. But within that, there can be a lot of disagreements and strife.

I'm always pretty nervous when I do anything! I walk very slowly. I'm very careful.

Certainly, we all wonder what is beyond, and when you lose a loved one, I think part of the grieving process includes where that person might have gone or if you'll ever see them again. I think it forces you to look up to the sky, to the cosmos.

Rock n' roll is a pretty fun job.

Sometimes people come to my shows and think I'm a Christian artist, and they put their hands up in the air, like they do. But first of all, I'm a Jewish girl from the Valley, and I'm from Los Angeles. It's funny to be misinterpreted.

I think regardless of where people are from, country music is a through line.

Songs are really interesting in that way. Sometimes, they grow with you. Sometimes, you outgrow them.

There's always a bit of fiction in everything that I write.

I find most modern country virtually unlistenable. I can't relate to the music or the lyrics.

I like babies, but not in the front row. I don't want to sing directly to a baby.

I can parallel park pretty well - I'm a great driver.

I love 'Wowee Zowee.' That was the first Pavement record I bought.

I felt like hip-hop was my music, it was like my outsider music... but then my mom started answering our phone, 'Yo, what's up.' She was hearing me talk to my friends. I was like, 'No, mom, don't cop the hip-hop talk.'

I wouldn't call it a faux pas, but I have about 12 tracksuits. I always travel in a tracksuit. I feel it makes people happy when they see me.

If you're a songwriter, you have to do homework. You can exist for a while on the inspiration, but at some point, you have to sit down and have the discipline to write - to finish the poem, as they say.

Rilo Kiley was a rock band, so I wanted my solo records to feel different.

It's interesting how songs can evolve. Sometimes I'll write a song that feels relevant in the moment, but four years later, I don't want to sing it anymore. Then something will happen in my life, and the song becomes relevant again.

When I'm not working is when I tend to freak out a bit. It's hard for me to just stay home.

You wouldn't want to be in a rock band - trust me.

My favorite days off on the road are typically nowhere, like Bismarck, North Dakota, and you find yourself in a mall, and you're like, 'This is awesome!'

Some shows suck, but I always - the show must go on. I learned it from my past as a child actor. The show must go on. You have to just keep on with it.

I scored one film by myself, which was the hardest thing I think I've ever done.

I'm not always as disciplined as I should be. I don't sit down and write every day, but I should.

You never know how things are going to turn out in a movie. You can imagine a scene one way, and it can turn out to be completely the polar opposite of what you expected. You just have to roll with the punches.

I think the idea of opening up for a massive band is always better than actually doing it, and having your name on the ticket means more than the actual set.

I'm a pretty terrible rapper. I always have been.

I learn lessons with every interview I give.

The best shows I play, I almost don't even remember off the stage.

I come from a very uncool profession: being a washed up child actor.

If I'm not crying while writing a song, I'm not doing it right.

I used to be a huge collector, and my big thing was stickers.

I never intended to set out and be a singer-songwriter. I just sort of became one because I put out my own record.

If I'm not the best aunt in America, then I don't know what's going on.

I hope that the restaurant I go to will have buffalo chicken fingers. I hope that one day I can work with Matt Damon. I have big and little dreams, and they're all equally important to me. A life without buffalo chicken fingers, I don't know if I would want that life. Even if it meant I got to work with Matt Damon. Everything has its worth.

There's so much interference, so much static and people's voices talking about what you do and why you do it that I've learned to be like, 'No, no.' It's actually simple. I just do this.

I've become very interested in the ways things can change even with someone you've known for many years and you've committed to for life. How drastic can you damage things in the way you speak to someone?

You are not waiting for your life to start. It's going on right now.

Women love to be asked more about their clothes than their work. We're dolls; we made a wish to become alive.

I just really like it when things are earnest.

I'm usually a fairly harsh critic. It depends. I tend to really not watch my work, because I just feel uncomfortable, and I can be highly critical.