I had 12 years of classical music as a child, playing piano competitions as a teenager, playing in blues bands and rock 'n' roll bands, country and jazz bands. I played in about any situation.

I learned when I started to study piano that I could play by ear. I could hear a song on the radio a couple of times and hear the song and the lyrics and sing it for you after a couple of plays.

I always know I'm a country singer, and regardless of where I've fallen into different places with my music, I know that, really, I'm a country singer.

I became involved in a residential school for the blind in Raleigh - the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh.

Hymns have always sounded like sung spells to me. I never felt included in the magic of the God songs I heard growing up - I knew I was going to hell before anyone ever told me that I was. People found comfort in this all-knowing source, but I felt frightened and found out. I developed some weird and very dramatic complexes.

Let me be serious: divorce is a sacred institution between a man and a woman who hate each other. God wanted Adam to pay alimony to Eve, not Steve.

Adopt responsibility for your own well-being, try to put your family together, try to serve your community, try to seek for eternal truth... That's the sort of thing that can ground you in your life, enough so that you can withstand the difficulty of life.

It makes my life easier that I don't have to take my daughter or son to school, that I've not got to look after them because they are ill. But then, I'm not nurtured and cherished, so I will seek external love from other close relationships.