Martina McBride

A big part of who I am is just the way I was raised. Nobody is better than anyone else, and if you really work hard, you might get lucky and get what you want.

In any small town, sports are really important to the high school, and I wasn't very good at sports.

It means so much being a part of country music and the Opry.

Faith that it's not always in your hands or things don't always go the way you planned, but you have to have faith that there is a plan for you, and you must follow your heart and believe in yourself no matter what.

My dad was a huge country music fan, but he also had a band and he sang. So he'd listen to a lot of music and the songs that he'd learn for the band were more from the male artists. So my earliest country memories were Waylon Jennings, Conway Twitty, George Jones, Johnny Paycheck even.

I was into all kinds of music as a teen - country music, because my dad was in a band that played country, and whatever my sister and brother were into.

That's the hardest thing about being a mom. You want to be cool, and you want them to like you all the time, but you can't always have that. You're gonna have times where you have to say no, and you won't be the most popular person in the house.

I have girls who are concerned about how they look compared to models or what have you. It's my responsibility to teach them that beauty is more than superficial.

I think we should all be tolerant of each other and embrace each others' strengths and differences and uniqueness and beauty.

I have a really amazing fan club, it's contemporary but it's a little bit old school. There's a lot of connection. I have a fan club president who really responds to people.