Music and Storytelling Quotes

I don't care how good a song is - if it holds back the storyline, stalls the plot, your audience will reject it.

I've seen music and songs used in stories, and while sometimes it works really well, often it doesn't.

It's funny, the power of music. I was watching 'Dracula,' the 1931 version with Bela Lugosi, and the only music you hear is at the very beginning of the credits. There's not one other piece of music; it's all silent. It's unbelievable, and it's very effective, too.

It's always easy, I think, to raise the importance of a scene through the addition of music. But it's very awkward to end it unless there's a door slam or a gunshot or something that just takes you right out of it.

For each book, I do end up making a kind of playlist to fit the characters.

I guess the passion I have for cinema is as strong as the one that I have for music. And I've always tried to be a character in the film, not just a composer that throws his music to the film. That's the main element that connects me with directors.

Some of my favorite films are musicals, like 'Walk the Line,' 'The Rose' and 'Lady Sings the Blues.' I just love the way the music and the story fuel each other.

I'd harbored hopes that the intelligence that once inhabited novels or films would ingest rock. I was, perhaps, wrong.

The bedrock thing of country music is, it's about storytelling. I feel like I was able to find a niche because I connected to that in some way.