Larry Gatlin Quotes

Elvis changed the country music scene quite a bit; he almost put country music out of business.

I've seen country music go uptown, like we say, and I'm proud I was there when it happened.

There's bad in everything. I dislike people misusing something that I love so much. It goes beyond the money. It goes beyond all of that and the glory. I love what I've done and I just can't stand to see what they're doing to it. But I've learned to live with it because that's what they've done. They've come in with the modern sounds. I call it modern pop. It's not country anymore.

I had to make a drastic change at Sun Records and I didn't really appreciate country music until I went there.

Television made a lot of difference in country music. It's progress. I believe in progress.

People misinterpret my emotions towards Nirvana because I've said things about how something happened with grunge that took a little bit of fun out of things. It's no offense to Nirvana; they were one of the greats, obviously. But something died there, too, and we haven't quite gotten the groove back.

There's always people saying that rock is dead, rock is over. People are always out to kill rock and roll.

In country music, one of the ways we may have gone wrong in the past is trying to be politically correct all the time.

The music that I've had out so far was obviously very pop, but when I signed with Hollywood Records, I was like, 'I know that's the music you're familiar with, but that's not what I want to sing. I want to do country.' They were on board with it!

What qualifies me to tell people how to act or what to think? I'm Charley Pride, country singer. Period.

It's kind of odd when you think of Loretta Lynn, when she was first traveling and recording country music. It was all built through word of mouth. If you pleased the fans, they would pass it around to their friends and family.

I try to be a good representative for country music. But as a country artist, it's important to move the needle and make a difference beyond your core audience. But you can't ever strategically try to accomplish that; then things get weird.

I was one of the very first people to ever do a video in country music.

It means so much being a part of country music and the Opry.

But of course it's different now, the blues is no longer blues, it's green now.

Pop music was supposed to be a flash in the pan, but here we are 50 years later and it means something to us, and it always will do. It's incredibly important.

Once Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings are not cool on country radio, it's time for a new format.

What I did in '06 with 'Port of Miami' was classic for that era, for that time frame, and in 2017, 'Rather You Than Me' will be the same.

I don't think country music needs saving from anything.

Between 1963 and 1975, I worked very little. The Beatles had come to New York and changed music - all the solo singers were out of work.

One of the things that's happened in the music I love over the past five, 10 years is that some people have gotten very old and continued to make music.

I don't mind talking about the Dixie Chicks, because I feel like it's still alive and kicking.

Dr. Dre's '2001' album changed modern pop music.

America used to say that hip-hop was a cancer. Then it embraced that cancer and realized, 'Hey, this isn't a bad thing. It is part of us, just more America.'

Steve Earle had a mainstream career. Dwight Yoakam had a mainstream career. Willie Nelson did. But they always made good music, they always stuck to who they were. They weren't relying on radio like a lot of people are in Nashville.