Right before I go out, we usually put on some Lauryn Hill or Fugees, and I'll do a shot of tequila just to calm my nerves.

I love love songs, but sometimes it's okay to just be young and talk about something other than getting married or falling in love. There are so many fun things that you live that you can write about and people of all ages can connect to.

Enjoy every moment because it is so good and just a testament to all the work you've put in.

If I had been thrown out into a radio tour when I was 18, or 17, and given a record deal, I don't think... it would have been a total nightmare.

When I look at most lineups, especially in country, women are definitely lacking in numbers.

I was 14, and I played this club that's no longer there because it was poorly managed: the Texas Tea House in Fort Worth.

I get a lot of my songwriting done while driving around Nashville - sometimes it comes to me that way.

The songwriting community in Nashville really is all about your talent. It's not about your image, and you have to be humble. You have to be kind. You have to have zero ego when you walk into that writing room.

I internalize a lot of thoughts, and sometimes it seems like I'm not listening or totally zoned out, but I'm always on a loop of ideas and song titles. I'm definitely kind of a space cadet, but I'm very laid back.

There are so many fun things that you live that you can write about and people of all ages can connect to.

I think about the people that I've seen change because they believed in their own hype. I just never want that to happen to me.

There's Kelsea Ballerini, myself... Lauren Alaina, Raelynn, and there's been this influx of really amazing artists who happen to be women. I think I'm not really attached to the females in country conversation as much anymore, but I think, you know, we're here to stay, and we've always been here, and we've always been good.

A lot of new artists sign their deal and then go into a development stage for a year or two or sometimes never get out of it. For me, because I had been a working songwriter in town, I had a collection of songs that I was ready to make into an album. At the time, I didn't realize it was becoming an album, but it was.

I have a Prius, but I'd love to have a white convertible like Richard Gere's in 'American Gigolo.'

I did choir, soccer, some theater. The only weird thing about my life was that I was playing honky-tonks on the weekends.

I love playing with my dog and just sitting on the patio with people I don't get to see very often anymore. I'm a pretty simple gal.

If I got dropped tomorrow or every single I released from now on tanked, I'd be devastated, but I'd also still be doing this. I'd still be writing songs. I'd still be recording them. I was doing that for four years in Nashville. This is just on a larger stage.

Nashville has become sort of this go-to writing city for every genre.

You need someone there that gets what you're going through.

Don't forget to celebrate. When I was first coming up, everything was so serious - we were always rushing to get to the next thing - that we didn't take the time to say, 'Man, look what we did just now.'

I'm a huge country fan and am always inspired by classic country.

As a touring musician over the last 15 years, before streaming and iPods, you had to listen to terrestrial radio wherever you were. That's always been my way of connecting to a location. Turn on the radio, search through the dial.

In Texas, it's legal for a kid to be in a bar with your parents.

I love dry British humor. I love to sketch in my off time. I love tequila.