Music really is a way to reach out and hold on to each other in a healthy way.
Perhaps it is music that will save the world.
I feel albino musicians could neutralise all the racial problems.
The same reason why we're doing music is the same reason why Motown did: to make the world a better place and to make people happy. The main message is, just have a good time.
I think innately knew that music draws people together and that good music is liked by almost everybody.
I come from Eastside Buffalo and prison cells. That's the beauty about hip-hop. It just brings everybody together.
I think with the right person and the right music, people from all walks of life can come together. I know that's what my life was about. I've seen it all, so that's what I want to bring to the table.
What we should be doing as musicians is trying to bring people together.
And of course, in my writing, there is the constant theme of music, love of, preoccupation with, music. Music is the single thread making my life into a coherency.
I meet people every single day who have heard the music and incorporated it into their lives. I feel like I have a tribe all around the world.
When I left Nashville I went to Texas because that's where I came from, and because I was playing in Texas a lot in different places. And I saw hippies and rednecks drinking beer together and smoking dope together and having a good time together and I knew it was possible to get all groups of people together - long hair, short hair, no hair - and music would bring them together.
When you think about it, some people don't like certain things, but when it comes to music, no matter who you are, where you're from, what kind of personality you've got...everyone loves music of some sort; that's what's so epic about it.
The music does bring us together and it's cheaper than therapy!
I find it amazing when I get letters from people in Israel and people in Lebanon and they both love the music, but in real life they hate each other.
Pop music has been the center of change, you know? And positive messages. I would love to get back to that place because I think we've lost it a little bit.
Music is such a balm. Always has been. It's such a heartbeat, like blood thrumming through the womb. That's why music appeals to people.
My whole drive is to make sure that music is a common space where we search for beauty and share it. It needs to be louder than any conversation. That's where we have to go as a human race.
The musicians, Duke Ellington, his thing was not about separating himself from the rest of America. Louis Armstrong - go to the forefathers of our music - Jelly Roll Morton - they're not preaching a separatist agenda. They're not taking their music and saying, "This is for me."
Music in New Orleans has always been the heartbeat that drives the city. It was that even before Katrina, and that's what we had to rely on after the storm.
Sometimes it takes a tragedy to bring people together. Other times, it just takes music.
Politics and music should only mix to a point. Me, I think my job as a musician is to make people try to forget about all that.
I'm glad if people can listen to some music and maybe fix some prejudices of their own, just by thinking.
It's important that when kids are listening to my music they don't think of it as their parent's music.
When I was governor, I was looking for a way to unify our state. I realized music is about the only thing that unifies Tennessee.
I'd like to see more crossover between white and black music. That's something I've been advocating for years.
