My mom used to work for Coach and Louis Vuitton, in retail. So, I've always been around it. I've always had that connection. Always.
My main influences have always been the classic jazz players who sang, like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole and Jack Teagarden.
My uncle gave me a trumpet, but I loved the Louis Armstrong sound and the Harry James sound and I played by ear and I played always soulful or very direct from the gut.
I don't think I have one particular favourite writer. I have many whose works I will always buy or reread - Muriel Spark, Anthony Powell, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ruth Rendell, James Ellroy, William McIlvanney, Kate Atkinson, John Burnside, Louise Welsh, Iain Banks.
I've always had an interest in Louisiana, especially New Orleans.
My aunt played upright bass in the Louisville Orchestra, and I was always really impressed by her musical ability. I found it really fascinating as a kid that one could play music for a living.
All the Southerners think we're Yanks, and all the Yanks think we're Southerners, and all the Midwesterners think we're East. Everybody's always wrong about Louisville. That's kind of why I love it so much.
I had a kind of romantic notion about being a Hollywood Errol Flynn type. Honestly, I did not get into a lot of bar brawls - but I was always willing to. About the only thing missing from my story is that I haven't had a full knock-down fight in the middle of the Polo Lounge.
I love my community. I love always being able to come back and have a home.
Love always overcomes hate.
Love always had my number. I could never patch a breakup together with whiskey and a one-night stand. I took them real hard.
A first love always occupies a special place.
I've always wanted to be a mom because I want to give a kid all of the magical gifts my mom gave to me, such as love and friendship. She and I had this incredible connection that was so unbelievable.
Innately, there are qualities in human beings that are always repetitive. There are things like love and hate and jealousy that are just going to be there forever.
I always believed there's a fine line between love and hate.
I had always thought that the idea of love at first sight was one of those things invented by lady novelists from the South with three names.
True, we love life, not because we are used to living, but because we are used to loving. There is always some madness in love, but there is also always some reason in madness.
It's always a little nerve-wracking to do a love scene, more than anything because it's just awkward.
Typically, the theme of my albums, if there is a theme, is, 'How does it feel?' And that always leads to love songs. It just does.
I love story songs because I've always loved books.
