musician's perspective Quotes

I think I've been playing bass for as long as I've played guitar, and I love them both.

Playing the Beethoven symphonies, for example, is a consummate experience for a musician because Beethoven speaks so directly to who we are as people.

"On Script" is one of my favorite songs I've ever written. I'd just been jamming on it one day, and again I was struggling with lyrics. I'm still figuring out what it's about. I've seen a couple of reviews that are like, "It's about the monotony of playing the same songs every night," because I say, "On script every night/Like a well-rehearsed stage show." It's not about that at all, but I find that funny, how people project what they think about me, or songwriters in general.

I'd rather give up my ears than my eyes, which might sound unusual for a musician.

Benny Goodman plays the clarinet. I play music.

If I get an idea for a song, I have a melody for it. I'm a musician first. I'm not limited by the fretboard.

I'm a Christian, but I'm just an artist. I'm a musician.

James Burton was playing some pure roots stuff. Gram Parsons took an interest in that record [in '68-'69] and he admired it. I never had the concept that I'm going to go somewhere and I'm going to have this career. I just really never thought about all that.

I'm a musician and, just as the critics are hard on me, I'm hard on the critics.

It's amazing when I do a gig how many people of different ages come up to me afterwards and chat to me about songs. The emotions I feel are what any person can relate to. Sometimes I'm just a narrator.

I guess fortunate that I'm still around and I emphasize I guess because you never can tell what musicians would be playing had they been around as long as I have.

The Beatles had a huge impact on me. I did 'Strawberry Fields Forever', and we worked it out in an open tuning. That's such a beautiful song, and I think I did it in a different way.

My playground as a musician is growing.

It's heartening to return to live music, heartening for people like me in a band. It's a very traditional thing to return to. It re-validates the original form that we fell in love with.

I think the majority of musicians are interested in truth.

I worship pianos like they are prize diamonds, and I never willfully do damage to them. But I grew up playing guitars, and you treat a guitar like a best friend or a little brother or a lover you have a tempestuous relationship with.

I mean, just because you're a musician doesn't mean all your ideas are about music. So every once in a while I get an idea about plumbing, I get an idea about city government, and they come the way they come.

Music sounds different to the one who plays it. It is the musician's curse.

I would hate to think my songs were giving advice to people.

As a musician, it's only natural that my music mirrors my life.

Even the greatest musicians, they only represent themselves. You represent who you are and what your experiences are and what you have in your heart, and it's the same for me. I represent who I am and what I've been through and what I'm bringing to the music.

From the first time I played with Lester Flatt, I sensed an extreme amount of history around me.

Music is always for the listener, but the first listener is always the musician

I don't care about the gold records and all of that stuff. I care about what we do onstage, and the joy that we bring to people.

I was rather disappointed, because the one thing I wanted to gain from that opportunity was to add something to his music, and have him add something to mine.