C. J. McCollum Quotes

My dad is actually an amazing guitarist, and he always had an incredible record collection, which is how I discovered things like Jimi Hendrix and Santana. I'll always be grateful for that.

It's hard to say a favorite song of my father's. I listen to all his stuff - a lot of the old stuff before the '70s.

I guess I'm a real fan of older music, and that's what shaped my taste and the way I sing.

I want to share music that we grew up with for this generation, the music my parents shared with me.

I didn't grow up on country and blues, I was just a kid listening to VH1 and then I realized I needed to expand my musical horizons. Now I have a deep appreciation for southern heritage music.

I don't know any Beatles songs. My dad never listened to Elvis or Sting or Bowie. Any band name that's on a t-shirt, I probably won't know their music, like AC/DC or whatever. I don't know what that is. As a kid, I would sing along to artists like Tania Maria.

I still love to do the old songs. I know some people don't.

Their eagerness for the big-band music and their ability to grasp the essence of it made me realize that today's generation has not been properly exposed to the big-band sound.

My parents were music lovers and collectors. It was around.

The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I'm doin' now, man, for more years than I know. I got it from them.

It was only later on that I became more interested in older music.

I like all kinds of music, though I tend to prefer jazz and classics.

We have to let the younger generations take our music - and approach it the way they want - but just teach them where it all comes from.

My parents' record collection was the music I was hearing as long as I can remember, and I would play Otis Redding over and over again.

If you're only a fan of the old music, that music's gonna wind up sounding even older.

My dad is huge on music, so he always made tapes from his friends. That's how I got into music.

My family wasn't in the music business, but they loved music.

We'll be presenting a broad spectrum of the music and looking at how the younger guys can carry it on.

I only know the lyrics to songs that I listened to between the ages of 11 and 15.

My musical development stopped when Frank Sinatra died.

I was born in '71, so I remember bits of glam rock on 'Top of the Pops' toward the late '70s, but I had no idea what kind of world it was. I didn't like the music, either.

I think the most exciting thing is that you expect people our age to know the music, but actually a lot of kids know the music, and if anything is left, we have left really good music, and that's the important part, not the mop-tops or whatever.

Unfortunately, the young generation, who I believe have their own place in the sun like I had mine; but I wish it was possible there were other ways to have them understand this music was here before they came, and the reason that it was here.

I never listen to Led Zeppelin. But, I mean, I don't think Robert Plant or Jimmy Page listen to Led Zeppelin, either. We all probably obsessed over the same old blues records growing up.

I feel that for years of teaching in the country and reading criticism in books, I feel like the things most needed in our culture are the understanding of the meanings of our music. We haven't done that good of job teaching our kids what our music means or how we developed our taste in music that reminds us and teaches us who we are.