My public image is so low-key, but I get to travel the world and still have an audience and it's really amazing. I don't take that for granted.

Television really has been my vehicle. I don't get played on the radio much, so I've relied on TV a lot.

There are days when I still want to be able to do what I want when I want, but there's also something wonderful about being secure.

There needn't be a distinction between your life and your music.

We're in a period where society seems very attracted to flash, and that seeps into people's musical taste.

You have to respect your audience. Without them, you're essentially standing alone, singing to yourself.

As a songwriter you have an umbilical cord to the song and it's hard to expand on your understanding of the lyrics. Whereas when you cover a song you can create your own reason why you're attached to it.

I mean, I am fully aware of my influence and my responsibility to society in general representing the gay community. But in the same time, I don't represent the entire gay community because it's a vast, vast community, as one can imagine.

I started singing when I was five. I grew up the youngest of four kids who all studied classical piano, so you could say I've been listening to music ever since the moment of conception.

I think I don't sing as hard as I used to sing. I used to kind of hit the accelerator a lot back in my youth, but now it's just being able to control it, and not work it so hard and use more of an emotional or sub textual kind of approach to singing.

I think I have a better sense of my weaknesses - being self-important, selfish and having a big ego probably triggers all the other stuff. I can see myself more clearly.

I think I have allowed my voice to experiment with the different genres. And I think that I have just really enjoyed the journey of getting to know my voice and seeing what it's capable of, what it's not capable of.

I think masculinity is bravado against the mystery of the universe of women. It's just a fear of not knowing what women have that's so powerful. It's this shield they put up to try to get closer.

Spend time reflecting on your emotional and physical existence and how that applies to the voice. You have to apply that wisdom and experience when you sing - it's what comes through.

When women make their image about youth and sexuality, and not about intellect, that's kind of a dead-end road. So I think it's a combination of self-entrapment and entrapment by society.

I don't believe that human beings are necessarily monogamous.

I feel like at 50 I've decided to become a rock star, which is, you know, typical of me. I always seem to work backwards.

I never get tired of exploring Americana or country music, and I always have a little bit of a crooner in me that never seems to go away.

My voice and the styles and genres I sing all express my appreciation for what I hear.

I don't sing anything that hurts my voice.