Pastoral Resources

If I had a rocket launcher, some son of a bitch would die.

I did a lot of writing for a lot of different kinds of bands that I was in and out of during those five years and that left me with a little body of songs that I liked better when I played alone, so I ended up going out solo and very soon made my first album.

I wanted to play rock and roll when I started playing. Nobody at that time ever thought about songwriting. You sang songs, that's all. You sang other people's songs. That's all there were.

The things in my songs are the edited highlights of my life. I don't go seeking out strange sexual experiences every day of the week.

Some of the songs I do once in a while that I kinda... my set list is basically like my hits, there is a good reason why they are there; people really like them.

Well, over the years, I've developed a stable of songs of which I'm known for and never get tired of singing.

Yeah, one of the main ways is for songs that make me want to move.

I would like to be able to do a song with Ray Charles, before we both get too old.

I love songs that have a rocking and grooving feeling.

For me, the focus are songs, which really get the audience moving.

I've written songs about things that nobody else has ever written about.

There aren't reasons why you like this song or this piece of music, or don't like it. It's just, it's either right or wrong, you know?

It's great to hear from people who have been touched by these songs. It has been good to know that the Lord is using this in ways I am not even aware of.

I want to be as honest as I can about the things I've been through - the sorrows and joys, victories and defeats - and to use those experiences as a well to draw from. Hopefully, the songs that result from that kind of writing will be songs that mean something to others.

Since I was the solo artist as well as the writer for the songs, I figured I had enough credits on it already.

The big thing that everyone forgets, you're famous and on TV and everything, but I think there's something very rewarding to be able to write a song, record it, and have it turn out as you heard it in your head, or even better.

If I give myself a chore, for instance, when I was writing the songs for Shameless, I said to myself, Now, every day for 90 days you have to write a song; good, bad or indifferent. So that was really helpful.

My book 'Trust Your Heart', which is the story of my life, will be followed by 'Singing Lessons', a memoir of love, loss, hope, and healing, which talks about the death of my son and the hope that has been the aftermath of the healing from that tragedy.

The powerful men in my life have always believed in me: my husband, my son.

Music is always occurring. It is just a matter of marketing, attention, and many other factors, that determines whether people will hear these songs or not.