The fact is: I no longer believe in my own infallibility. That is why I am lost.
The songwriting has never really stepped forward from the '50's.
Don't be afraid to take liberties with this music. Try and put some of yourself into it.
I mean, what 16-year-old is going to listen to Doc Watson?
I don't think there is a musician today that hasn't been affected by Elvis' music. His definitive years - 1954-57 - can only be described as rock's cornerstone. He was the original cool.
Elvis Presleys' first album had more energy and more enthusiam than any other album at the time - when it was released it just blew everything else out. It changed the whole landscape of music
The jazz chord substitutions in a country song. . . that was another thing that bent people's ears. I guess that my favorites are the unique ones. It's not how fast you play. It's that unique blending of different stuff I'm most proud of.
No one should do a job he can do in his sleep.
With the passion and the vision of the Berners [Sanders] coming into the Greens - we call it berning green - and the events that I'm going to that are being created around the country right now, it's the Bernie folks who are showing up in huge numbers along with the traditional Green. It's very powerful.
It was through reading that I discovered the crucial, even sacrosanct place the rituals of drinking held in the American imagination - the ingenious way alcohol seemed to lubricate everything from onerous chitchat to self-conscious sexual advances.
I'm not classically trained, but I am flawed in a very fantastic way!