I finished high school, moved to Nashville for college, and set out to break into the music business. Every night when I called home with news of my experiences, my mom and dad would encourage me to keep taking those small steps.

You start out playing in kitchens, and you end up playing in kitchens.

I almost never make stuff out of cookbooks because they're either too complicated or there's an ingredient in there that I can't find.

I like a gooey cookie.

It's cool when your husband starts to sing some old Merle Haggard song and I can pop in with a harmony and it doesn't sound too bad.

The most important thing I want to get across is that maintaining weight loss is just hard. It takes a dedication to exercise and eating right most of the time. I'm not saying I don't enjoy the days that I'm not eating chocolate cake. But I do particularly like those days when I am eating chocolate cake.

I don't spend time wondering what might be next I just focus on trying to savor every day.

I don't need to be 19 years old or starve myself for some weight or turn men's heads down that road. And thank God I finally know that.

I've never been the girl that's had the five-year plan, the 10-year plan and I'm still not.

You know, really - actually, it's funny because it's a sore spot with me because I have all these recipes that, you know, you have to measure things out and put them in. And then you bake it and it becomes this thing. And it's not a recipe.

When you're sick, nobody takes care of you like your mom.

My upbringing did not create a healthy affection for confrontation. I'd love it if everyone always got along, and nothing ever got tense.

Music is my No. 1 passion. If you made me choose between music and food, it's definitely music.

I'm like it's - it's like taking out whatever you have in your fridge and putting it in a bowl and eating it.

It's for balance, if you want to do that. But the truth is that we all know how we're supposed to eat. And so if you have fried chicken and mashed potatoes and white gravy, then the next day you have, like a grape and you're totally evened out and you're good.

She's got her God and she's got good wine, Aretha Franklin, and Patsy Cline.