Quotes from Kacey Musgraves

I did tennis for a while, and I was actually on the volleyball team for a minute.

Loretta Lynn was one of those ladies a long time ago that opened a lot of doors and paved the way for a lot of ballsy singer-songwriters who weren't just cute.

Fame freaks me out. Do you just wake up different? I don't know how to scale it back if it gets too crazy.

In the beginning, I wrote OK songs, but they didn't have a unique perspective.

I always draw from things around me that people around me have gone through... The story that could be taken really literally is not from my life exactly. But bits and pieces are, and the sentiment behind it is.

I'm really proud to be a woman representing country music.

Really connecting with someone and maybe opening their mind a little bit, is such a cool thing to be able to do through music.

It's weird, because the ideas in my songs aren't controversial to me. I feel like I should be able to sing about anything.

Lee Ann Womack is from near where I grew up in East Texas, so I've always looked up to her. I sang a lot of Dolly Parton as a kid and a lot of traditional western swing, like Patsy Cline and Roy Rogers.

When I was nine, I was singing western swing: Roy Rogers and Patsy Cline. It got me noticed because no one my age was doing it, but it made me feel inferior because none of my friends could relate to it.

I'm just observing. I don't ever want people to think I'm preaching at them or wearing them out.

I see my fans as music lovers. I really love that. There's no age group or demographic. It's people of all ages and backgrounds. Country people and non-country people. I wanted to make music across the board.

I think if you're everyone's cup of tea, that probably means you're a little bit boring, or you're not pushing yourself. Creativity happens where it's dangerous and scary: where you're not comfortable.

Certain kinds of people will always have an issue with my music. But that's fine; it's OK. I don't want to be the McDonald's of music. I don't want to not turn anyone off. If you were everybody's cup of tea, you'd probably be boring.

When I started out, I wanted to be the kind of artist who could play the CMA Music Festival and then turn around and play Bonnaroo, and I've managed to do both.

I needed to really pursue music and learn what I needed to learn on my own by getting in and doing it, not by reading a book about it.

My parents aren't crazy conservative. They're actually pretty open-minded. But my grandparents are, and where I'm from, East Texas, is the Bible Belt.

My parents have always had a great sense of humor. And I really appreciate good humor in songs, witty lyrics that sneak up on you and then you listen again, and say: 'That's so funny.' John Prine's songs have always had this really witty tone.

I'm thrilled that country music fans like my stuff, but so do a lot of people outside of country music, people who just love music. My goal is more to reach music lovers than to appeal to a genre. I love country music, and I'm proud to represent it, but I don't obsess over it as a category.

I don't push buttons to push buttons. Throwing the rebel card out there is really cheap.

I used to write poems more when I was younger, but I haven't in a long time. I just write ideas and paragraphs and go from there.

Too many people focus on writing what they think they should write, what should be in a song, what radio would want.

Say what you think / Love who you love.

I love Lee Ann Womack and John Prine. That's kind of my ideal cross point. If I can sing it like Lee Ann would and say it like John would, then I feel like I've gotten somewhere.