Never have doubted it, even when the plane crash happened. I wasn`t mad at God. I just knew that there was a reason that I didn`t know about why it happened.

Growing up is not being so dead-set on making everybody happy.

I had lots of breaks.

So, I think it has to do with the product and what you take to the public. If they like it, they`re going to come see you, and if they don`t, and if you`re kind of getting out of the trendy line of things, then they won`t come see you.

My family, you know, are all still, you know, very close. We`re all still very close. Mom and Daddy are still alive. So, what more can you ask for? Your kids are healthy.

For me, singing sad songs often has a way of healing a situation. It gets the hurt out in the open into the light, out of the darkness.

When onstage, I always try to take my audience through as many emotions as I possibly can. I want them to go from laughter to tears, be shocked and surprised and walk out the door with a renewed sense of themselves - and maybe a smile.

At this time when I turn 50, because so there`s many of my friends and family who didn`t get to see 50-years-old, and so, I`m celebrating for them too.

To me, there`s two types of songs, good and bad. And I just like to stick with the good ones.

For no. 1, it`s great writing, super writing. The second thing is that it`s great chemistry with all the actors. We just all got along from the very start. Very get-go, we all got along. We just - it was just like we were all meant to be there together.

I was singing a lot of waltzes. And I was with Jerry Kennedy, my producer, and he was playing me some songs, and he said, hey, I want to play you this song that I`m going to get Jackie Ward to record.

Now, if it`s just a little toe-tapper, got to make me feel good somehow or another, or when I sing it I can`t make you feel good.

And so we were asleep there in San Diego. And our pilot called us. And his brother was on one of the other planes. And when he was leaving the airport, he saw in his rear view mirror that there was an explosion.

I`ve got CDs in my car, listening all the time for that next song, because everybody`s looking.

Besides, I`m a gypsy at heart and I like to travel around.

And the two planes that were taking the band and crew that we had taken out to San Diego were flying out after the show. And so I was never supposed to be on that plane.

So, we come out to Los Angeles. And we met with every network. We met with show runners, directors, writers, everything. And what we had an idea for, they didn`t like. And what they had an idea for, we didn`t like. So, we went home.

I think they want to keep it separate, but I`ve never been a crossover artist for some reason.

You know, I get a lot of people pitching songs to me.

I always thought that was so strange that people would try to corral you and pigeonhole you in one category and not play you anywhere else.

Finding a good bus driver can be as important as finding a good musician.

I think it`s the way I talk. I think they thought I was too country. And I`m not ashamed of that by any means.

So, I took lessons, and I love to shoot now. It`s a lot of fun.

But I like to listen to demos. I like to hear the finished product. It`s like listening to a song - I mean, a story. If you`re going to sit here and tell me a story, I just like to listen. I don`t want to make them up.

I have learned a lot about myself and come to deal with a lot of things that, at first, bothered me.

I think it`s a wonderful time for a woman.

I have talked to Debbie Hammond quite a bit, Jim Hammond`s wife, his widow. I`ve seen their kids. And last time we played Dallas, a lot of them came over. It`s hard for them to come see the show. It`s still hard.

Be different, stand out, and work your butt off.

To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone."

[when asked by Larry King if she had ever been asked to "sex it up" a little] I`m more of the down-home -- I guess, you know, the good-old girl. Being sexy is kind of funny to me. You know, I can get kind of spunky or I can get tough, you know, that kind of tough, sexy look. But sexy? No, I don`t think so. Just what you see is what you get on me. And it`s never been anything of a sexual nature.

Easter is very important to me, it`s a second chance.

Being a strong woman is very important to me. But doing it all on my own is not.

You don`t waste your entire life waiting to go back to dust.