Emmylou Harris Quotes

Music is emotional. Your job is to make people feel something. The best way to do that is to sing and speak from something they've personally been through. That's where I write from.

The whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can't sing.

Tell your story with your whole heart.

My driving philosophy about making music is that you can reduce it all down to one note if that note is played with the right kind of sincerity.

What's the point of a song if you can't be honest?

The older I get, the more I just like plugging directly into my amp. I'm tired of trying to impress myself with weird sounds. It's about the notes more.

That's what I like about Frank Ocean or Bon Iver - they try to capture a feeling in the most sincere way.

Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing.

When you hear my music and you feel the emotion, it's real. When you see me in a film and you see a tear, it's real.

My definition of country music is really pretty simple. It's when someone sings about their life and what they know, from an authentic place.

I'm most comfortable when you just give me a guitar and I just sing.

If I had my choice, I'd pick a song that tells a story every time. There is a great deal of pleasure in doing the vocal on a number that you can put feeling into.

Lyrics are kind of the whole thing; it's the message. Something might have a beautiful melody but if it's not the truth coming out of your mouth, it's not appealing.

My music is just about story telling. I don't have much to say, and I'm not trying to change anyone's mind. I'm just singing through conviction about what I love and what I care about, starting with the very small.

Olivier said that drama is an affair of the heart, or it's nothing, and he was right.

'Nashville' songs and country music have always been about storytelling and about the heart and confessionals. They're monologues.

If it doesn't come from your heart, music just doesn't work.

Music is something that should speak for itself, straight from the heart. It took me a long time to understand that.

Nas is an artist who writes from his heart.

It's the most personal thing that I do is sing. Because I can't tell a lie. I want them to know exactly what I'm feeling.

If you can take a piece of life and put it in a song, it's going to be a good song - especially if it's from the heart.

Lyrics mean a lot to me, and I won't record a song unless I can feel it. That's something I learned from Carter Stanley. Even when he wasn't perfect technically, he got inside a song and sold it emotionally.

I heard Skip James, and it pierced me. It felt like punk rock to me, real and raw. It was just one guitar, so simple yet so much expression. I wanted to feel and express like that, to take the shortest path to get to an emotion.

I just try to sing every song with sincerity.

I hear singers on a daily basis and there are some who really end up touching your heart.