Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" 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. "

Related Quotes:

" I toured around for years, but the road was always a drag for me. I never made a dime. In fact, I lost a lot of money - it was horrible. "

" Having my son on drums has made a huge difference. I can't stress this strongly enough, in terms of the groove space and style that Joachim gave me to instinctively play what I felt in a more free way, rather than feeling constricted. That's true on record and on stage. "

" I think I'm more relaxed; I think I'm more philosophical. I don't get worried as much as I used to about things. "

" 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. "

" When the real world intrudes on your musical fantasies, I get put out. "

" Music is fragile: people die, and it's forgotten. "

" Musicians understand each other through means other that speaking. "

" Music is all starting to sound alike in the modern era. Afro-pop sounds exactly like L.A. pop - there's no difference, no ambience, no real resonance. "

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

The Most Important

" Beautiful tunes are all very good and fine, and great musicians are always great, but that alone isn't enough. Most folks, when they see movies or hear records, need something that they find pulls them in, draws them in, and appeals to them beyond just the notes. "

" It all started back in '69 when I worked with Jack Nitzche on 'Performance.' That was my first experience of doing soundtracks, and I've enjoyed doing them ever since. "

" I just feel that music is a great life because it's very rewarding. It's a gratification. You do this for yourself, and you also do this for other people. "

" Film work is a job I like to do because I really love to solve problems. "

" 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. "

" I wanted to be a car pinstriper, but there was nobody to teach me how to do it. So I said, 'Music's good too. I'll do that maybe, since I can't work out how to do this pinstriping.' "

" I always have felt that most people don't have the first idea about what musicians, in the traditional sense - I don't mean in the modern media fake way, but traditionally - what they went through, what their lives were like. "

" I can't help what people write or think. If somebody thinks I'm a serious archivist, they're wrong. That's been a problem. It's a shame people take that attitude, because it affects how they listen to the music. It's a big mistake to treat any pop music that way. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I've tended to look at my albums as research and development. I was just trying to get someplace new on each one. "

" How many BMWs do you need? How many Rolex watches you gonna wear in your lifetime, for crying out loud? What is it about that kind of desire? I don't understand it. "

" I didn't come from a very rigid background, where there's a clan or a tribe or a religion. "

" It's good to see more young people playing instruments. "

" I'm a great lover of ballads. "

" People who aren't as interested in recorded music as they used to be will say, 'Oh, 'Buena Vista?' Loved it.' And I'll say, 'Well, how about any of my other recent records. I've been doing some pretty good ones. You like those?' And they go, 'Huh?' "

" 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. "

" I've been wanting an ice cream truck forever. "

" I always like spoken word records. "

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

" 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. "