Walker Hayes Quotes

And I don't have any specific steps to take because I don't start the same way every time. But there is a knowing when it's enough and you can leave it alone.

When I begin working on a production, I don't really think about my previous album or albums. I try to have a real creative process.

Every now and then, as a composer and producer, it's important to write music for yourself.

Even if you're not releasing songs, the act of creativity is important. That's the part I love, when you're in the moment. The rest of it I'm not particularly interested in at all.

I couldn't have written things like 'Low' and 'Heroes,' those particular albums, if it hadn't have been for Berlin and the kind of atmosphere I felt there.

I don't go into any album with pressing issues. I just try to write songs.

I'm very interested to see how this new painting will go - I know I want it big and stark, and as I said, I follow the muse, and that's when it always works perfectly for me.

When I'm painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It's only after a get acquainted period that I see what I've been about. I've no fears about making changes for the painting has a life of its own.

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

Artwork is not like a commercial business; there is no such thing as a schedule for art. You can't hurry art.

When I am composing, I try to clear my mind of having to publish, or having to sell a book or find readers. That kind of thinking gets in the way.

Being at the genesis of the creative process is definitely something I want to keep doing. It's just such a great buzz.

It's weird because when you initially write a song, you write it with no understanding that the world is maybe going to hear it one day. So when you go into the studio, you don't see the hundreds of people at a gig or the viewers on TV, you just write a song without any inhibitions or boundaries.

I didn't want to take the guitar solos down note-for-note, but more or less use them as a map, and keep all the hooks from the guitar playing, and let myself come through.

Any talk of 'craft' makes me laugh. My music looks outward; it does not gaze upon itself in admiration. Artisanal is for cheesemakers. I don't know anything about music theory. Every time I approach my guitar, it's like the first time. There's no craft in that.

Sometimes I think that I want to do something strictly basic, really simple. Just with a few chords. But I won't have anything more than two or three sentences in my head. That kind of evaporates once I start playing and then it goes off in whatever direction.

I make music with no boundaries.

My career? I never think of it as a 'career.' Art and music and all those things that I'm creating are just part of me.

I think that was the whole idea behind doing the solo record was to be able to do musically whatever I wanted to do.

It's impossible to control the reception of your work - the only thing you can control is the experience of writing itself, and the work you create.

Writing 'Monitor Mix' was a very edifying and inspiring few years.

I think, generally, the creative process is hurt if you're thinking about the end as opposed to focusing on day-to-day decisions.

I think that anyone who is in any way creative or is creating something, whether an architect or fashion designer, I think if you have the opportunity to create something that is fully you, it frees your mind and your spirit and gives you the opportunity to really find yourself.

There's nothing that compares with the time spent all by myself on a creation that is all my own. I still think of my solo work as my 'home planet' in comics, though I've learned to listen much more to editors and trusted friends for feedback.

When I'm in the studio with a writer, I don't mind for them to take the lead and show me something new.