We asked all sorts of people from all different walks of music and this is who we got this year, who said yes. I think music crosses barriers and boundaries. If it's good, it's good. We're after good music.

I would love to make my music and be completely anonymous, but that doesn't work. You can't have success and be faceless.

Deep within I'm shaken by the violence of existing for only you...

I've been a fan of old country music, like Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline. I think I'm drawn to it because of the sense of sadness and sort of loss that a lot of good old country music has.

Music is very nebulous, and you can conjure up a lot of moods with music. But lyrics - they're a lot more tangible. They're much more specific. And you want to say something meaningful and creative and artistic and that tells a story and that takes people someplace else.

If you only try to please others, you're going to resent those people you're trying to please; the ones who are often closest to you. If you choose a path that you yourself want to take, then you're going to be much kinder to the people in your life.