Iris Dement Quotes

My brain never turns off of songwriting. Every conversation, everything I see, I'm just kind of like a sponge and I soak it up.

It's not that I'm trying to write another '7 Years' or a new version of 'Mama Said.' Songs just kind of come out of nowhere, and you need to catch them when they do.

Life makes writing poetry necessary to prove I really was paying attention.

There's a lot of reflection that goes on whenever I write a song - it's been a wild whirlwind last couple of years and there's a lot to talk about, and hopefully that's evident in the music.

I tell my writing students that everything is material; just pay attention.

I don't think about art when I'm working. I try to think about life.

Songwriting is too mysterious and uncontrolled a process for me to direct it towards any one thing.

When I got my first loft, I still didn't know what I was going to paint... There were long stretches when I just sat there and thought without interruption.

I had a lot of songs and words and scenes stuck inside of me. So Jacknife encouraged me to bring them all out. So, in essence, 'You and Others' is my diary.

Look around at day-to-day life for ideas, and it finds its way into your work.

I wanted to write about relationships. But I didn't feel I had the experience to sing about them in a deep way. Studying psychology helped me out in terms of my understanding. I still look through my old textbooks when I'm in need of inspiration.

I look at my pictures, and I think, 'Well, how did I do that?'

Sometimes you stumble across a few chords that put you in a reflective place.

The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention.

I always think I don't have any songs, I don't have anything I'm working on, and I get in the studio and realize there are 20 things I'm thinking about. It's just kind of second nature.

When people think of someone being prolific, it's like, 'He's got a vault with 5,000 songs in it,' or something, but I just kind of pick them out of the air when they float by.

All the things worth writing about are outside me. I'm a lens, not a source. And even if it's not always a comfortable journey, it's always a stimulating one.

I'm still learning a lot as a songwriter. I try to write down and make a note of ideas that I cross paths with on a day-to-day basis, whether it be a conversation or something I hear on the radio, seeing a movie, or just thoughts in my head as I'm walking down the street.

I don't think I'm a great songwriter, but I think I've learned a lot about it, and I don't think there's any one way to do it. I don't think I can control it at all. I can just kind of hope that it happens.

I'm always writing and reflecting on life. I want to suck it all in.

'The First Time' is a song that I wrote by myself on my front porch, in real-time, as that situation was happening to me.

Sometimes when you're an artist, you need to be in your own head; you need to stay in it to be able to get to a good place.

I do sometimes go back to my old songs. Some I feel very proud of. They make me wonder, 'How did I do this?'

I sleep with a notebook next to me, and most nights I sleep with my guitar next to me.

Fundamentally, our job as songwriters is to sit down and listen.