Maren Morris

“I started to see this common theme with the songs that I was writing or co-writing, and it all had this really strong, independent point of view that I had subconsciously been craving from the music scene.”

“I would love to see Regina Spektor, Bjork, and some really cool-sounding festival bands like 'Metric' and 'The Cardigans,' who are one of my favorite bands.”

“I've learned how to be a better performer on stage and interact with the fans, make it feel like a collective experience more than just me singing songs on a stage and feeling really detached.”

“I'll just drive around if I'm stuck on something or have a case of writer's block.”

“I learned to write from different points of view and not just something I would say.”

“I've written some really good songs that I love hungover because I wasn't overthinking it.”

“It definitely is an ice breaker going into the awards already having one, and it was just so crazy when I heard I did win because I was in London at the time, and we were doing a festival out there, and my manager was like, 'You just won an ACM.' And I was like, 'How? It's so early!'”

“This never happens, but I was writing with my friend Ryan Hurd and Eric Arjes, and we wrote this song called 'Last Turn Home.' The next day, my publisher emailed it to Tim McGraw's label. He listened to it, and I think within the week, he went into the studio and recorded it. And that never happens.”

“As a songwriter, I feel like, just for inspiration and research purposes, I have to listen to everything.”

“I was 14, and I played this club that's no longer there because it was poorly managed: the Texas Tea House in Fort Worth.”

“If you think about 'The Pill' by Loretta, that was totally blacklisted back then. But she revolutionized and liberated a generation of women - country listeners and beyond - that were sort of in that box and were able to break out of it.”

“They say it can all change with one song, and in my case, that rings very true, I was shocked that it happened this quickly.”

“I want to be as gracious and thankful as I can because it has been a long road.”

“A lot of new artists sign their deal and then go into a development stage for a year or two or sometimes never get out of it. For me, because I had been a working songwriter in town, I had a collection of songs that I was ready to make into an album. At the time, I didn't realize it was becoming an album, but it was.”

“The art of songwriting is just stumbling your way to something really special, and you don't know what you're going to write until you are writing it. There is no formula. And, sometimes, you really have to work at it and hunker down.”

“Even though I was playing myself on 'NCIS,' it was so cool to see how everything works behind a camera.”

“Don't forget to celebrate. When I was first coming up, everything was so serious - we were always rushing to get to the next thing - that we didn't take the time to say, 'Man, look what we did just now.'”

“I think I've learned how to be a better boss. I'm the one running the show now, and in the past, I've always kind of been looking at other people to make the decisions. I feel more confident to run not just my show, but behind the scenes, too.”

“It seems like almost every day I've been able to cross things off my bucket list.”

“I get a lot of my songwriting done while driving around Nashville - sometimes it comes to me that way.”