"`Ah, say that again,' she murmured. `Your voice is music.' He repeated his question. `Music,' she said dreamily; and such is the force of habit that `I don't,' she added, `know anything about music, really. But I know what I like.'"

"My parents didn't have records, they didn't have radios, and they didn't listen to music. My grandmother was my main connection to art and music. She could play piano very well, and she had perfect pitch."

"Country music is important to me, and I love it, but it's not my whole life... I like to be outdoors, I like to hunt, I like to fish, I like to play golf."

"I discovered in college that country music could be fun adding some swing to it."

"If it's a good song and it fits me, that's what I'm going to do, I'm not out there trying to change the world. I'm just out there trying to sing country music the best way I can."

"Of all the songs I've recorded, 'Amarillo By Morning' always sticks out in my mind."

"Swing is my favorite kind of music."

"You know, traditional country music is something that's going to be around forever... I'm not worried about it."

"I don't think my music's as traditional as people make it out."

"I'm a country singer. I love all kinds of music, but country is where my loyalty lies. That's just me and what I do, and I'm not going to change it."

"Music should be used for the perception of God, not jitterbugging."

"Music is spiritual. The music business is not."

"I always record far more than I can use. There's probably twice as much recorded as comes out."

"Singing is my profession - there is no plan B."

"You've got to separate the singer and the songs."

"You can't stay the same. If you're a musician and a singer, you have to change, that's the way it works."

"The point of jazz is, you do something and then you go on."

"The first piece of music that captured my imagination was probably Ray Charles Live At Newport."

"Skiffle was a name that was attached to what was, in essence, American folk music with a beat."

"If you're a pop singer, you don't need to evolve. You just get a set together, have some hit songs and play them over and over."

"I'm not a rock singer and I don't want to be a rock singer. I'm not interested. It doesn't seem to get across."

"I understood jazz, I understood how it worked. That's what I apply to everything."

"I think Paul McGuinness and U2 created the Irish music industry. It certainly wasn't there before that."

"I do see value in music criticism. Most of the criticism I have received over the years has been very good."