Crystal Bowersox quotes:

I did grow up poor. My mom managed to get a job as a custodian at our church, and it was really just a favor for her, and my dad's an electrician - just a blue-collar family, and the house was usually falling apart.

Growing up, my parents did everything they knew how to do to support me. My dad was always kinda my roadie; he drove me from gig to gig. But I got my own gigs. I was this 12-year-old kid, shuffling business cards, calling people, telling them I wanted to play.

It's not a natural process, 'American Idol,' but it does great things for the people that are on that show. If you don't walk away from it with some kind of positive outlook or find an opportunity to come from it, then I feel like that's a choice.

I knew from the time I was 6 or 7 that music was something I had to do. Growing up, my parents did everything they knew how to do to support me. My dad was always kinda my roadie; he drove me from gig to gig. But I got my own gigs. I was this 12-year-old kid, shuffling business cards, calling people, telling them I wanted to play.

I have a lot of love and respect for Melissa Etheridge. I love Joe Cocker, Ray LaMontagne, Feist.

I really - I try not to look ahead too far into the future and really just appreciate the here and now.

I went into the 'Idol' audition with no expectations; that's just the kind of person I am. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't hurt so badly, you know? But once I made it past the first round, and the second, and third - I started to realize, 'Maybe my goals and dreams really are attainable.'

For me, marriage is about love, not paperwork. I've never been the kid who dreamed of the big white dress, the long veil, the fancy diamond ring.

I don't think anyone's sexuality needs to be a public issue other than to give others the confidence to love themselves wholeheartedly and to be their true, authentic self without any shame.

I know that, as a bisexual, sometimes people who are gay or lesbian look down upon the bisexual community as well and assume that people who are bisexual just don't know what they want or are just playing both sides of the fence, and that's not the case, either.

Writing for me is definitely a form of ventilation - a way for me to cope and deal with emotions. I think it is for any writer.

I hope that country music embraces me because I grew up on it and have a love for the music.

I had what you could call a chaotic childhood. My parents divorced when I was 2; I went back and forth between my mom's and dad's houses for years.

This sounds really cheesy and weird, but the pitbull is a sweet animal that just wants love until it's provoked - that's kind of how I've lived my life, too.

When you're a kid, you might be picked on for your differences. When you're an adult, employers, colleges, friends - people look for differences when you're adult, and that's what makes you shine and stand out.

Acting was my first love before music.

I had what you could call a chaotic childhood. My parents divorced when I was 2; I went back and forth between my mom's and dad's houses for years. But, you know, my parents tried to do the right thing. As crazy as everything was, and as much fighting and everything, there was always a feeling of support from them.

I did pretty well busking. I would play two to eight hours a day, and I could make two or three hundred an hour.

Acting isn't necessarily pretending. It's storytelling. It's giving someone your perspective on something.