Amy Ray Quotes

I got tired of playing other people's songs.

I learned that music should be fun and should be a way to express yourself - that there aren't really any rules.

I sit around and try to play along to certain songs that I really love. It helps you explore new territory.

I got my style. I got my own way of playing. I'm a musician. I'm self-taught.

Don't be afraid to play what you feel and what you think no matter what it is. If you play long enough, you start to move past your influences and find your own music.

When children start to speak they find their own voice by imitating the sounds around them. It would follow that bands do the same. Bands will find their own voice at some point.

The music I turn out these days is the kind of music I want to hear myself.

Everything I record, I just try to sound like me and come up with songs that suit what I do, and then just go for it.

I realized that there was much more to my voice than I'd ever been led to explore and that I could make my own songs.

When I was younger, I had a much better connection between words and music. Somewhere along the way, I had kind of an aspiration to disconnect them, to just kind of go into a totally musical world.

The cool thing about music is no one can take music away from you, writing wise.

Maybe it's egocentric or whatever, but when I'm playing Beethoven, Bach, Hendrix, or whoever it is, in the end, it just feels like my own music and I'm making it up as I'm going along.

The combination of experience and experimentation will ultimately yield a personal sound.

I love working with my band-mates in Alkaline Trio, but to make a rock record that was just mine was something that I wanted to do.

I just don't let music genres define me.

There's an amazing power that music has, and it definitely had its power over me as a boy. I just saw fit to keep exploring it.

I've found that as I've learned to improvise melodically, it seems like I can come up with a bigger variety of stuff. I kind of selfishly enjoy it more, because I'm in the moment so much.

I think the music defends myself. I don't think anyone should put a race on any genre. It's just a way of expressing yourself through instruments and sounds, right? People can just listen to the music.

When all my friends were into punk, I'd be singing versions of soul ballads. I thought, 'Oh my God, I don't want them to know I'm doing this.' But I really enjoyed singing those songs.

I have different sounds... I don't want to be just that girl that sings reggaeton or trap music.

I discovered that I didn't want to be strict like a German composer.

I like hearing fiddles, steel guitar, acoustics up loud - really rock & roll stuff but with a country sound behind it. That's just who I am. I'm not trying to prove a point; I am just doing what I like. But I don't have any problems with any other artist coming in and doing their own thing.

Music is one whole force. And I think the Proms have always represented very clearly that music is a universal language, one that everyone can speak. I've just followed my goosebumps in every direction and have found a recipe for what my music feels and sounds like.

I'm totally open to exploring different types of music. I just have to always remember to be true to who I am.

Music is a lens through which to see who we are. Every phrase of every piece of music is trying to tell a story.