Will Champlin Quotes

I was interested in maintaining the dignity and the hearts of the songs, letting them breathe and become what they are.

I am quite certain in my heart of hearts that modern music and modern art is not a conspiracy, but is a form of truth and integrity for those who practise it honestly, decently and with all their being.

You look at Michael McDonald and people like that; I think they just tried to write music that was true to themselves. That's our bottom line. Whatever people view us as, I think as long as we try to create good music that will win out in the end.

The most important thing is that you honor that musical integrity, whether you make music that sounds like ABBA or you make music that sounds like Void.

Learn your instrument. Be honest. Don't do anything phony. There is so much crap floating around. There is plenty of room for a bit of honest writing.

Maybe someday you can accuse somebody of being a poseur by selling out and playing blues music, but that's just not going to happen in my lifetime.

You have to focus hard on recording songs that you believe in.

I don't think we were anti-commercial. But we were anti-contrivance, and like Zeppelin, we found dignity through the music we were playing.

I can make a record with six-part string arrangements and the best musicians in the world and have it be not genuine. I'd rather make a genuine record that I truly stand behind and have it fall where it may.

The music that I write, I have to actually own it and live by it, which is cool. It's no problem.

If you're not inspired and you're working hard to pull inspiration from somewhere and make a song something it's not, then it's very contrived and I don't like to write music that's contrived.

We get accused of inauthenticity because we play the instruments we play.

I just don't believe in the old definition that a fan of music is: I find a band, I listen to all of it and I pretend to like stuff that I don't like. Now if I don't like it, I just go, 'I don't like this.' It's way fairer.

What sometimes annoys me about the arts is increasingly that we have to put real people on screen or stage.

With a band like Shenandoah, you don't want to take things and deconstruct them to a point where you don't recognize them.

If I can't be honest with music, forget it.

I don't trust songs that can be played at a kid's party and a club at the same time. I just don't think it's right. There's something reptilian about that.

I've always wanted to make records that rock like hell. But also, I've never wanted to compromise that Country place deep inside.

At least I try to stay consistent with every album I do.

I try to stick with things that I can sing with honesty.

I've tried to avoid the rock & roll highway and have taken the scenic route. I think all the guys have been more concerned with the music and the band's legacy than with the commercial aspects of life.

It's very important to me to stay true to who I am as a musician and the songs that I love.

I'm not just making rhymes and making melodies. I'm expressing my true life force, energy.

The danger with genre is playing genre instead of playing the honesty of what's going on.

I have no preconceived ideas; I gave that up a long time ago… The only thing we can do as musicians is make an album we like, and an album that we consider to be incredibly good.