Levon Helm Quotes

I think good music comes from the heart. That's my belief.

Passion: It's what separates a singer from an entertainer. I hope I have passion for my music, my family, and my friends until they start shoveling dirt on my face.

It's very important to focus on the music first. That's always number one. But after that, it's extremely important to just have fun with what you're doing.

I hadn't been practicing or playing or anything. But that had been a vital part of my life.

Then I realized that to be really good at this requires a lot of energy and concentration and skill.

My secret? A desire to work, years of dedication and loving what you do; I can't live without music.

As a songwriter, it's very hard to listen to music that's not coming from the heart and soul, personally.

If you really want to write, then shut yourself in a room, close the door, and WRITE. If you don't want to write, do something else. It's as simple as that.

If you truly dig what you are doing, if you lay it out that way, nobody can not respond. That's what rock and roll is; it's relentless.

I think what people are attracted to about me, if anything, is my passion. People got exposed to my passion through music and song first.

If I'm going to make music for the streets or the clubs or whatever, I go at it with 110 percent.

Of course I have bills to pay, but at the same time, it's more about the passion and the love, and I think that's where music should come from, the heart, not necessarily just to cash a check.

I just do what I'm here for and that's to make that music.

I don't see any reason to quit playing. I'll be doing this at least till I get to a hundred and something. You know, I ain't got far to go. But I'm still going to be playing, as long as I have good ideas, and can play as I do.

I will always desire to play with Bruce Springsteen. He's the most inspirational, most dedicated, most committed and most focused artist I've ever seen. I like to be around people like that.

Make your heart bleed! Put your soul into that damn thing. And try new things.

I messed around with the guitar from the age of about eight, but when I hit 13, it was the only thing I wanted from life.

You can take your play seriously as long as you seriously play.

My life is my music, so how can I stop? I put 100 percent into my career. I keep this flow going, and that's important.

I loved that playing the guitar wasn't easy. It was pain, but it was my pain. And then it became joy. My joy.

If business has my mind, music has my heart and soul.

If you're concentrating so damn hard on a piece of mathematics or a musical - a piece of music or a piece of art, the restraint that holds the rest of - the rest of the world back off and vanishes in the rest of your life.

I just have this real love and connection with what I'm doing when I play music.

A lot of different factors go into making your performance a good one.

It's important to spend time with your work. That's when you see it, when you have a feeling.