Mavis Staples Quotes

Music is music. It doesn't matter if I am trying to aim at country or trying to aim at pop.

I never thought of us as a punk band, a metal band, or a new wave band. Just as a band band.

My fans are like, 'Lab does what he does,' which is really cool. If I came out with a Jack White rock tune tomorrow, people would be like, 'Yeah, cool man,' which is great.

People come in because they like 'Old Town Road.' They'll find out that I'm just not going to stick to that.

I've done the country, done the pop-rock, done the super-hard electro.

Some people think I'm a rock 'n' roll musician and some think I'm a jazz musician but, for me, there is no difference.

Musically, my palette is eclectic.

I want to explore all genres.

In all of my years in this business, I've always been part of either a progressive band or a metal band.

When you say, 'Man, what kind of music does Outkast make?' You be like, 'They make Outkast music.' What kind of music does N.E.R.D. make? They make N.E.R.D. music. I want to be one of those people, because there's so many layers to the music I create that I don't want people to expect me to do one thing.

I don't like to focus on just hip-hop because with hip-hop, I can only do so much; with a vocalist, I can only do so much, but the limitations are varying.

I think I have the capability to make music different from what I have already released. There are ghazals and other songs that I can create. There is no stopping me though.

Had I joined a straight rock band, I'm sure my drumming would be a little bit different right now.

I'd rather play jazz, I hate rock and roll.

A lot of people ask me why I don't expand and explore other musical areas, but I like the plain three- and four-chord rock-and-roll that I call the the semi-blues.

Music is music; you don't have to put a label on it.

I can play punk rock, and I love playing punk rock, but I was into every other style of music before I played punk rock.

I'm not really allowed to talk about the Dead though. I think when we are at our best, we definitely do things that the Dead or no other band could do. We explore things and take things to the extreme.

I can make any type of music, so I wouldn't want to describe myself as having one type of sound. I think music is about keeping it diverse.

They have all different names for music. I think the music I'm going to change the style with is going to be really, really big-years and years after I'm gone.

When I was younger I didn't really know what genre of music I'd want to do because I'd always done so many different types, so many impressions.

Music is a huge part of my life, I enjoy every genre of music from jazz to country, and I even get down with a bit of hip hop.

When a lot of musicians change styles, their songwriting suffers because they want to be different.

The music that I've made in the past has had strong contemporary country roots, but I think moving on in music, I will branch out from that a bit.

I wouldn't go so far as to make 'You Don't Own Me' a tango or 'It's My Party' a hip-hop thing. Believe me, those things have been suggested to me. But I thought if I could stay true to the song, the arrangements would work. I'm really enjoying singing them.