I know this sounds generic but I'm so happy to be home with my husband my family and my dog.

The Deep South has a completely different history both good and bad that is fascinating for everybody. It makes people work together who usually don't and that sounds like a cliche in so many ways but it actually happened... and it happened because of a beautiful idea.

As musicians and artists it's important we have an environment - and I guess when I say environment I really mean the industry that really nurtures these gifts. Oftentimes the machine can overlook the need to take care of the people who produce the sounds that have a lot to do with the health and well-being of society.

I do live like a rock star but it's not as great as it sounds. It's a lot of traveling.

If it looks good you'll see it. If it sounds good you'll hear it. If its marketed right you'll buy it. But... If its real... you'll feel it.

My entire life has been an attempt to get back to the kind of feelings you have on a field. The sense of brotherhood the esprit de corps the focus - there being no past or future just the ball. As trite as it sounds I was happiest playing ball.

I auditioned for a solo in church and got it. I was about seven and I sang a song called 'Jesus I Heard You Had a Big House' and I remember people standing up at the end and me thinking 'Oh I think I'm going to like this.' That's how it all began. Sounds funny to say you got your start in church but I did.

It sounds funny but the 2008 Olympics were something that just kind of happened and I was lucky they came at a point when I was uninjured and well prepared. As a gymnast you can't ask for much more.

I always wanted to make a children's album because you have the freedom to explore so many wonderful topics and sounds.

Maybe a part of me recognized how right the improvising spirit of jazz is. Not the sounds but the freedom to work with musicians who work that way. It felt very natural to me but I think there's a way to do it without it being a jazz record.

If only I wasn't an atheist I could get away with anything. You'd just ask for forgiveness and then you'd be forgiven. It sounds much better than having to live with guilt.

Most fears are basic: fear of the dark fear of going down in the basement fear of weird sounds fear that somebody is waiting for you in your closet. Those kinds of things stay with you no matter what age.

Whenever somebody says they need an angle for their story I always fear that they've got an idea and they want me to fit into it or they want me to come up with an idea myself or I'm supposed to be more revealing than I've been and to me it just sounds like something I don't want to do.

The world is full of a lot of fear and a lot of negativity and a lot of judgment. I just think people need to start shifting into joy and happiness. As corny as it sounds we need to make a shift.

Being very famous is not the fun it sounds. It merely means you're being chased by a lot of people and you lose your privacy.

It sounds cliche but success is your friends your family what you do and if you're happy when you wake up.

I have a really really really normal family. And by normal I mean we're all nuts on some level. I think you've gotta be a little nuts to pursue any kind of creative job. I was also a really good kid. I know that sounds really dull but I didn't rebel in the traditional sense.

Universal peace sounds ridiculous to the head of an average family.

You just kind of have faith. If that sounds kind of mystical it's because I really don't know how it works but I trust that it does. I try to write the way I read in order to find out what happens next.

Big companies are like marching bands. Even if half the band is playing random notes it still sounds kind of like music. The concealment of failure is built into them.

Our world faces a true planetary emergency. I know the phrase sounds shrill and I know it's a challenge to the moral imagination.

I know it sounds corny but when you follow your dreams it happens. And if it's music take it seriously.

If you think of exercise as a 60-minute commitment 3 times a week at the gym you're missing the point completely. If you think that going on a diet has something to do with nutrition you don't see the forest through the trees. It is a lifestyle. I know it sounds cliche but you have to find things you love to do.

I am fussy about my diet and straining my voice. I know sounds a bit over the top. But I'm not as bad as I used to be. These days I don't drink alcohol for five days before a show - very dehydrating for the vocal cords and all that acid reflux. I used to ban it for a fortnight. Nightmare.