“You’re not supposed to specifically talk about aging, ever,” the 57-year-old songwriter’s songwriter says over the phone from her Nashville home. “You’re either not supposed to talk about it and try to look as young as you can, or go away. That’s the message that women, especially in the entertainment business, get.

“I’ve done my best work, I think, by going to the places that scare me a little bit, and that was definitely one of them.”

To read the interview in its entirety, view it at the Philadelphia Inquirer’s website.