Natalie: I find the psychology of celebrity very interesting; the things people are willing to sacrifice to be famous. I think it comes from a sad place. Some are grounded and can keep it in perspective, and some let it take over.

Emily: It's a soap opera, something for people to watch that's bigger than life. And the people who are in the middle of it love that. They want to be perceived as being larger than life. It's like watching "Richie Rich" or "Silver Spoons."

Martie: I'm very proud that when Brad and Jennifer broke up, I didn't know for a month!

Natalie: Sometimes you do feel more claustrophobic. I've definitely become more reclusive and anti-social and suspicious of people, which sucks, but it does come with it.

5. Bitter End (written by Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Gary Louris)

Emily: That started when Martie came in with a little Celtic fiddle riff, just like two notes.

Martie: I'd been listening to the Pogues a lot, and I just started from a drone and a waltz time feel. It was hard at first writing with people you don't know, how much you're willing to put out there and risk getting shot down. We spent long hours just talking with these people, talking about life, collaborating on what we wanted to say

Natalie: It's a lot of hours to spend with somebody if you don't have much in common. These writers are so good, they are constantly questioning if a song is the best it can be.

Emily: Gary Louris is just so melodic - and he's really good at singing nonsense words to the melodies, and then ideas just come out of that.

6. Lullaby (written by Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Dan Wilson)

Emily: That was last song that was written for the album. We felt like we said everything we wanted to say, it was time to write a song about our kids.

Natalie: It's a song that you're really going to get and is going to make you cry if you have kids. If you're a teenager, I guess you can skip over it!
One thing that's cool about being a musician is that things live forever, so our kids will always have this as a gift to them.

7. Lubbock or Leave It (written by Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Mike Campbell)

Emily: We'd seen a documentary called "The Education of Shelby Knox," which was about a girl - she was 16 at the time, very religious - trying to get Lubbock to teach sex education in the schools. And Lubbock has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and STDs in the US, so it really showed what happens when you keep this information away from people. Lubbock is also one of the last hold-out radio stations that still won't play us, and of course Natalie is from Lubbock, so she has personal experience with the box that a small town can keep you in.

Natalie: It's not just about Lubbock, but about any small, hypocritical town. Mike was asking me for all the details - the stores, streets and I came up with this long list of names. We talked about the irony of having a big painting of Buddy Holly at the airport -that his face is the last thing you see before getting on a plane!
I do feel bad for my family who’s still there and has to defend me - after everything they already went through, to have to do it again.

8. Silent House (written by Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Neil Finn)

Natalie: This song is about my grandmother who has Alzheimer's. It's about walking through her house, that she no longer lives in. Packing up a house, having all those familiar feelings and passing those wonderful memories on to others.

Emily: Martie and I also had a grandfather who had dementia, and you realize that it's up to you to remember them the way they were, because you're going to be a witness to their life. That's one of my favorites on the album. It's kind of a dark horse - it's long, it takes a lot of patience, but I really grew to like it.

Natalie: Even though this song is about our experiences, almost everyone has been touched by something like this. The other writers were all very generous and understood what we needed to say.

9. Favorite Year (written by Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Sheryl Crow)

Martie: I had an idea for a song where the person knows in their heart that a relationship wasn't right, but still wants the other person to look back on it as the best time in their life. I think I was wished that that’s how my ex husband looked back on our 5 years together, but I know that's not the case. But hey, you can make it true in a song, right?

Natalie: I had just watched "The Big Chill," so that's what I was visualizing. People who were so in love when they were really young, and you really think you're going to spend the rest of your lives together, but then life just takes turns.

Emily: Sheryl Crow worked out the chord progression. We worked on this song together when we were recording "Home."

Natalie: We felt an instant connection to Sheryl, she's very real and funny, easy to talk to and open about herself.

10. Voice Inside My Head (written by Linda Perry, Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Dan Wilson)

Martie: This one was hard for Natalie. It took a long time for her to feel like she could sing this song and really own it. It's a very heavy subject matter and it took us a while to get it right.

Natalie: It’s one that didn’t come together until the very end. Rick was instrumental in making the sound really work for this song.

11. I Like It (written Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Gary Louris)

Natalie: The day we wrote “I like It” with Gary we were looking just to write a rock song with a great hook. What I like most about this song is all the layers of harmonies. It was one of those songs that we got to try things vocally, that we had never done before.

12. Baby Hold On (written by Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Pete Yorn, Gary Louris)

Emily: That's a song touching on where we are in our lives and our relationships, trying to get your partner to be Number One in your life and putting the focus back on your marriage, as opposed to just being mom and dad. Kind of a "where are we now" look at married life.

Martie: I thought we'd write more about our families than we did. We're really good friends, but we don't always talk a lot about our personal lives - maybe out of not wanting to burden the others, or even just to keep a bit of privacy.

13. So Hard (written by  Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Dan Wilson)

Martie: That song touches on the issue of infertility, which Emily and I both had to deal with. I think we feel a responsibility to break down some of these barriers - it's much more of a common problem than people realize. Someone the other day asked me if twins ran in my family. When I told them I did in vitro they said, "Oh, so you took the easy way." I couldn't believe they said that.

Emily: We both got pregnant through in vitro fertilization, and people usually get all freaked out when we tell them that. I don't find it a stigma at all - people need to start talking about it, because it feels almost epidemic. And it's so wonderful that we have this technology.

14. I Hope (written by Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Keb’ Mo’)

Emily: Keb’Mo’ was one of the last writers we wrote with, and it was so nice and so comfortable working with him. With what he's been through and where he grew up, it's important to him to write positive, uplifting songs.

Natalie: On the other hand, he wasn't afraid to get political, and this ultimately turned out to be a pretty serious song. Hopeful and positive, but serious.