Sturgill Simpson Quotes

Most bands are commercial enterprises. But I'm not in one of those bands.

I was actually signed at a very young age - I was 12 - and one thing led to another, and I ended up in a mutual split from the label. But it was probably the best thing that could have ever happened, because I was able to kind of leave the industry side of it for a minute and focus on the independent side.

Although I didn't set out to run my own label, I found it made sense quite quickly. I can say what I want and dance to my own tune, even if sometimes it's like nobody is listening. The trade-off is you stay 'cult' and resign yourself to a very modest level of what most people would call success.

I deliberately try not to cater for the commercial market, so I can't see myself in competition, you know, with second or third generation rock stars.

Basically we just created our own label, but again we just did it to document our own music and create our own thing, so the major labels were just always out of our picture, we're not interested.

I'm not ruling out music forever. I'd love to do that, but if I ever did, I don't think it would be with a record label or anything like that. It might even look like me finding a band and kind of playing in bars.

When I was working on 'Coloring Book,' I knew that I wanted it to be a beacon for independent artists and music makers with their own agenda.

I love singing opera, but the world surrounding it is not me. I want to be barefoot. I want to be in control of my own career. I want to put on a show. In the opera world, you wait for people to call you until you get to a certain level. In the folk world, it's a lot easier to have control from the beginning.

I think what I've learned to focus on is my music, and that's why I made my record independently.

Obviously spending my teenage years in music, and in popular music, I wanted to continue this career, but in a way that allows me to dictate it and create it myself as opposed to relying on third party or more corporate decision making.

Doing stuff on my own terms and making a record without being signed to a label - I credit that all to my commercial work.

I don't sell millions of records. As a matter of fact, I'm not even interested in selling millions of records. I enjoy MCing. I make a decent amount of money. I can feed my kids. I keep a roof over my head. I don't have to sell a million records to maintain my lifestyle.

There's room in the world for one historical folk-rock singer to make a decent living, and I happen to be it.

I had my jazz club and I had enough money. So I didn't have to write for my living.

If you can play live and support yourself, it's one of the few ways you're going to actually get paid in this business these days.

Now I get exposure first with people directly in the clubs. This is a unique situation for me.

I've always had just enough success to buy me some more tour dates and another record.

I'm in a very good place to make records. Needing to make money off music is very dangerous.

The reason I never wanted to sign with a big label was because I didn't want no one telling me how to make my music.

I never had the influence of any other singer in my music, so I sounded like myself all the time.

That's my favorite subject because it really levels the playing field for artists these days. You don't have to sell out to the record company. You don't have to get a five hundred thousand dollars, or whatever, and pay them back for the rest of your life to record a record.

You can go out and find ways to make your own record and get it out there now. If you really want to, you can be heard. Keep things simple. Learn to go out and play solo. That's a really really good thing to learn, if you're a singer-songwriter. Don't be dependent on a band because you may not always be able to afford one.

I made this record without a record label.

When I was 19, I made my first good week's pay as a club musician. It was enough money for me to quit my job at the factory and still pay the rent and buy some food. I freaked.

By the time my first solo record came out, I was making a handsome living as a record producer. I had worked with the Band, Janis Joplin and all of these other artists in the Albert Grossman organization. So as my so-called solo career evolved, I never felt pressure that I had to come back and top when I might've done before.