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" The women and the men are teachers and preachers in my family, and a little bit of both those fell on me. "

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" So many great singers we know have come from the church. "

" I come from a family that has grown their own food from well into times of slavery, provided for themselves and people around them. So I found, through conversations about the earth and about the house with my neighbors, a lot of common ground. "

" It's very hard for me to place myself alongside another artist. Everyone has something unique to express. "

" Surrender is working with what happens. "

" Music is primal: when it's done without pretension, you can really feel the shape of someone's soul. "

" I know how to make myself comfortable. "

" I love singing all types of genres. "

" I'm in love with the way that Ella Fitzgerald delivered a lyric. She would deliver a lyric with the kind of clarity that would make you wonder why it was written, and make you think about the writer. I think every writer hopes an Ella of any genre or anytime gets a hold of their work and works the song like that. "

" My father was very strict, a very militant parent, because he wanted us to be very focused kids. He sold the televisions, so we didn't watch TV. And he didn't want any music playing that wasn't gospel or inspirational music. In fact, he didn't even like a lot of gospel because he thought it was too bluesy. "

" It's hard to know who you are until you're cracked open a little bit. "

" I get bored very quickly. "

" I love talking to other musicians on tour and finding out what we all have to do, not just as artists but as business people. A lot of us are investing and trying to use social media. It is such an interesting level of responsibility and engagement on all these levels. I don't know how one can do this without absolute commitment and faith. "

" Where I fit genre-wise, it's hard to tell. It's a fickle wind. But I have to believe there's always going to be a place for the songs inside of me. "

" Where I come from, music is not a business. Sharing music is a business, but music is not a business. It comes from the people and belongs to the people. "

" My mom has a couple great tricks, but my father is consistently a good cook. He's extremely avid about health and fitness and a bit obsessive. He always talks about garden-fresh food. "

" Salif Keita's one of my favorite artists. "

" I think, as singers and performers, we are ambassadors of the human experience. I don't want to get bored just talking about myself. "

" Gardening is a working meditation for me. It helps me remember process, and it helps me remember patience. "

" I always want to do good work and enjoy doing it. "

" The church is an institution of music and of production and performance, and it has to do with taking people to places inside of themselves and giving them an opportunity to sit deep in their own feelings, and to be together and deeply alone at the same time, and to process things. "

" As I grow older, I hope I can fully embody my grandmother's remarkable peace. "

" I'd been trained in choral, gospel, and a little bit of opera. "

" I let the song guide me. I move through the space that I'm given rather than trying to make an impression on the material. I'm curious to learn from the music. "

" 'Salt' is like this snapshot in midair, an action shot. It's about my relationship with the church, the classical and choral music that I dealt with in school, and my new introduction to jazz. It's very hard for me to listen to from beginning to end, because I hear how lost I was. "

" By high school, I was putting the music for the services together and teaching Sunday school to everybody's kids. "

" I am more prolific when I have something to respond to. I get my juice from people and real stories and things that seem common but are amazing. "

" I'm so grateful for just the inherent mercy of life. "

" I call myself a singer-songwriter influenced by the gospel and jazz tradition. Naturally, because of my lifestyle and love for nature, there's a lot of folk and Americana there because that's just my life. "

" I never left jazz. The relationship between structure and improvisation - that constant conversation and tension - I've always wanted in every genre and song that I perform. "

" There's a lot of pressure that comes from the mainstream stuff, and already people who have been saying - people who don't know any better - have been saying things to me like, 'You should really think about neosoul. You'd definitely be more successful in that.' But that's not my expression. "