Just to be nominated, and especially as a new artist and a female artist, is a feat. Winning anything is just a bonus.

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.

I care about women's rights and reproductive rights and my gay friends being able to keep their marriages official. You don't want your genre to disown you for it - and I don't think they would now - but you still see that sort of hatred and vitriol that comes with disagreeing with the conservative agenda.

Ever since the Dixie Chicks, the female perspective on country radio has been love songs. I love love songs, but we do have more to talk about, so it's nice that other perspectives are coming back.

Find something you really love doing and mix it with something you really care about. That's why I've had such longevity as an artist. I really, really care about ending violence against women, and I really, really love playing music. It's super enjoyable!

Anyone who's taken a lot of creative-writing classes, or taught creative writing, has learned to dread a certain kind of manuscript. It's long, for one thing. It has irritatingly small type; it's grammatically meticulous when it comes to everything but punctuation, for which it has developed its own system of Tolkienic elaboration.

In rising financial markets, the world is forever new. The bull or optimist has no eyes for past or present, but only for the future, where streams of revenue play in his imagination.

I spend a lot of time practicing active imagination before I go to sleep. What I'm feeling will manifest as images through active imagination. And then I go to sleep, and those play out even more in my dreams.