Jessye Norman Quotes

I like people that can strap on a guitar and don't sweat the fact that you have to come up with a song in an hour. I want to work with someone who won't feel like they have to play along with Jason Molina. I want them to just have the confidence.

What I want to happen is to be really creative, and to play something new in the improvisations, every time.

I'm definitely a risk-taker with my music.

The consistency - either the theme from record to record, or the band, the different musicians - it really varies. So if I get criticism, I don't worry about that, because I'm still being creative.

The rule is to try and never play the same thing twice when you have the freedom to do that in the song.

A lot of people from my generation of music are so focused on playing things correctly or to perfection that they're stuck in that safe place.

What's cool about indie rock is that one band can do effectively the same thing as another band, and one band nails it, and the other one doesn't. I like that elusiveness.

I don't ever try to make a song better than my last song. I just try to make it different from my last one.

Well mostly in song writing my experience is that there isn't so much inspiration as hard work. You sit there for hours, days and weeks with a guitar and piano until something good comes.

I think it's like music for the sake of music, and a lot of the words stem from liking music a lot, wanting to be a good band and having a good sense of humour, and living in a situation where we're free to pretty much do what we want.

I have a curiosity that compels me to find ways to make music that are fresh and new.

There's art in rhythm playing. Just find it. Make your own art. Find your place, and when it's your time to solo, it's your time to shine.

I didn't really know what I was doing when I started. I just started writing songs. After two songs I just continued to explore it.

Any talk of 'craft' makes me laugh. My music looks outward; it does not gaze upon itself in admiration. Artisanal is for cheesemakers. I don't know anything about music theory. Every time I approach my guitar, it's like the first time. There's no craft in that.

I'm still more comfortable with standards than with my own songs.

I've been really trying to hone the art of songwriting in a way that doesn't follow any sort of guideline.

I wrote music. I was in a hardcore band when I was 14, and I wasn't good enough to play anyone else's songs, so I had to write my own.

Any good music must be an innovation.

A lot of songs are derivative of each other. Sometimes you need to take a departure from what you do to something that's slightly different in order to get inspiration.

The combination of experience and experimentation will ultimately yield a personal sound.

I feel like my music has become a lot of things. It's hard to label the evolution, but I like there to be an evolution. I just like to paint with all different kinds of colors.

I think the people who are saying jazz has to sound a particular way, or, 'What you're doing isn't jazz,' are just scared because they can't do it. A lot of them just aren't talented enough to do anything new, honestly.

One thing I liked about 'Silver Bell' is that I barely knew how to play in the tuning I was writing in, and I just went for it anyway.

It's like jazz: You learn the rules to break them - as long as you can break them in a meaningful way.

Every movie you score you hope is unlike anything you have done before. You are always trying to not sound like yourself.