You began writing songs in your late teens, at the same time you picked up the guitar. Did you find you had a facility for it, right away? I think so. I was 17 when I started writing. My Dad is a singer-songwriter, and he plays guitar. I felt I got it from him. I just loved it. I started playing guitar, and wrote my first song, and it felt like the first thing that had ever come naturally to me. It was something I didn't have to work really hard at, whereas I had to work hard at everything else I had done. I think it's maybe something you're either born with, or you're not.

You have a great talent for storytelling and turns of phrase. Do you know where that talent comes from? I have no idea. I feel like it's God-given, for sure. I think you can hone your skill, but I also think you're born with it. I'm always working to be a better songwriter and musician and singer, but it's truly something I had in my blood.

Has being married made it easier or more difficult to write "relationship" songs? I think it's made it easier. I no longer write the "cheatin', burn your house down" songs as much as I once did. It's great being married to another artist. We bounce ideas off one another and give one another advice, and each of us knows what the other is going through.

One of your recent songs, "Priscilla," addresses the craziness of tabloid celebrity. That must have been a fun song to write. It was. It's something we're going through-something that's happening at this moment. Recording a song like "Priscilla"-what it talks about-is such a great way to address that. Of course Blake and I are definitely not Elvis and Priscilla. But the things that song had to say really caught my ear. It was perfect for where we are in our lives right now.

Is all the notoriety distracting? Does it interfere with work? Everything starts and ends with music. The celebrity and tabloid stuff strays away from that and turns you into a caricature sometimes. It becomes about everything but the music. Blake and I both have to bring it back around to what's important. Without the music, we don't have anything.