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" Uncle Dave Macon was a great balladeer and banjo player from the early part of the 19th century... He would take a social problem or something that he was looking at and make up a clever little song about it, you know, in a language everyone understood, a man of the people. "

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" You go through these phases. That's how life is. Over the long term, you just can't do one thing. I saw that back in the Sixties when I was getting started. "

Ry Cooder

You

Getting Started

Back

" I'm a man of peace. "

Ry Cooder

Man

Peace

" 'Geronimo' was a huge amount of work. That involved 80-piece orchestras and Indians and Tuvans and all kinds of crazy people on that thing. That's a real circus, that score. "

" If every song is in the past tense, that's a drag, so you have to predict the future. "

" Music creates complicity, and then you feel less isolated. "

" The thing I always found about the gospel music was that it reached further into your being if you like, your mind. It takes hold of you - especially if you sing it and play it. "

Ry Cooder

You

Always

" Politics runs on power and money and on ignorance. "

" I always loved country gospel from back when I was a teenager in high school and started listening to bluegrass quite a lot. "

" I keep my mind on track, and I don't get mad, and I don't get frustrated. Well, I do... but creative work, it's a way of controlling all that. "

" Santa Monica, where I have always lived, is not a town where you will find storefront Church of God in Christ churches. So, the whole idea of gospel quartet singing is something I never knew existed until I began to hear it on record. "

" I had a lot of luck in meeting great musicians who were kind enough to show me things. "

Ry Cooder

Great

Who

" Travelling is hard. I'm no traveller. I hate flying, and I hate hotels. "

" When I was little, 4 or 5 years old, the first guitar I had was given to me by a blacklisted violinist - a lefty, commie guy, pinko man. "

" Country hillbilly music I love. Always have. "

" People respond to any good you can do in music. "

" I give up on pop music. As far as a commercial entity, as far as pop music goes, I quit; I absolutely throw in the towel. I can't handle it. I can't do it. I can't be what they need you to be. "

" I'm used to music as a tool, taking the various elements and then making something completely new out of them. And writing film music is the perfect opportunity to do that, because you can look at the film and then just let your imagination soar. "

" The biggest inspiration I had was to take norteno soul music and fuse it with Mexican music. It was my great big idea to do that. "

" You have to be able to improvise and respond to what's going on around you. Then you might get a good piece of work done. "

" I got a reputation for being 'eclectic' or some damn thing like that, but to me, the different kinds of music I play are all the same stuff - good time music - and it is the only stuff I can do. "

" I love listening to gospel records. "

" Music is a treasure hunt. You dig and dig, and sometimes you find something. "

" Everyone thought my first album would be instrumental, but I didn't want to do it - it took me eight months to make. "

Ry Cooder

First

Everyone

" I always thought East L.A. music was so dreamy and languid and kinda greasy. "

" I like the idea that something happens to everybody who comes to L.A. - whether they are Mexican, Irish, black, or hillbillies. You come here, and you leave all your traditions behind. And since there's no traditions here, you just make one up. "

Ry Cooder

Mexican

Leave

" After all is said and done and institutions fail, people still have some ability to care for each other. "

" To me, the essence of the music is the most important thing. "

Ry Cooder

The Most Important

Music

" Critics don't sell records, unfortunately. No one reads what they write anyway. "

" The '50s was the golden age of music all over the world for some crazy, 'X-File'-like reason I can't quite understand. "

" I went on tour with Ricky Skaggs and his wife, Sharon White, and the White Family in 2015. It was fantastic. They're all the greatest singers of that country stuff, traditional country up into bluegrass. "