And there's been occasions where I've gone brown and got parts! I'm not above doing that! I hope after this, I can get a role where it won't be: "Oh, you can't play any role other than a blonde." I'm proud of being a blonde. I'd be proud of being a brunette or a red-head. I don't think it matters.
I don't think I was bullied. If I was bullied, I fought back or turned the other cheek. I have been put in a box, I guess: "Oh you're blonde, you can't play brunette." And I'm always like: "You know what? I'm going to prove you wrong, I'm going to make my hair brown."
I always tend to remember the funny moments. When I lost my shoe (even though it was funny) there was something motivating about it, I just ended in this spastic emotional way. I tend to remember the more extreme moments.
I think, ultimately you know in your heart how much work you've done. You know what you're doing, if you're being honest on stage or not. That's all you being you. But when you acknowledges it - especially with a Tony Award nomination - you just can't help with the guilty pleasure!
I think I would rather want to create something new, but I really did enjoy doing that show. It was a really fun show to do.
And the next album I do is going to be different because I'm going to change. I already did that thing where I had a band - and I had a great time with a band - but it was almost like pandering to get a record label deal.
This way, if I did the album myself, and I produced it myself with my own label, it was going to be done the way I wanted to do it. If people like it or don't like it, it doesn't matter; I got something that means something to me.
I feel like that's a way people can change the way music is - to be guided by someone they believe in and trust. Larson and I really believed in each other. It was like brother/sister, father/daughter, we were laughing and yelling, that's how it is when you make an album! Essentially the trust was there and I got something great.
There's lots of sides. The CD doesn't really create a mood. It creates more of a journey. It starts out with a simple bluegrass tune, sort of melancholy and sad, like "Lovin' and Lyin'," then it's sexy and there's some funny songs in there where I'm talking, like "Designated Drunk." There's a humor side, a sexy side, but there's also a pretty sad side, the country side. It's the backwards side of me!
One thing I can say is that as I've gotten older, I've gotten younger. I've grown up but I've kind of immatured (but matured!) but I've allowed myself to be a kid. When I was a kid, I was so much of a professional and carried myself that way. It was crazy.
Being a creative person. It's so much more rewarding when you find things on your own, to live whatever the writers are writing or to display what the director is looking for. You are the thing that everybody uses to get the story out.
There's a responsibility to the story, but there's also the sense of fun you have. When everybody else leaves, you get to continue to create. For me, there's no other way! I really like creating from the ground up.
I feel connected to a higher power when I'm making music or performing. There's a spiritual experience for me.
I actually met Larson [Paine] on Larchmont in Los Angeles. He was eating and he stopped me because I was massaging my larynx. I was doing a show and trying to loosen up my throat. He had sort of this southern vibe about eating alone and talking to people. And it was funny because I had just having eaten with Larry O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin.
