“A whole lot of magic has to happen to make music. A whole lot of minds have to see something invisible. The act of making music — that could be spiritual. You’re taking something that’s not physically seen and you’re bringing it from nowhere, pulling it from thin air, so people can experience it.”–Valerie June, 2021
“That’s why we make art, music, film…to connect. I mean, our contribution and our duty, above all, is to love people. And our contribution is to make things that relate to people. And through those things, that’s our vehicle to actually directly, physically, emotionally, connect with them.” —Scott Avett, September 2019
“There’s something very simple that we overlook. And we have to consciously remember that it exists, and it’s this: There’s always, somewhere in the room, somewhere, a tiny, tiny little thread of goodness. Always. And you have to seek it out. You have to find that tiny little thread. And you have to touch it, and pull on it. And you have to actively, consciously make that choice. And that’s…if you forget about that, then you’re lost.” —Vincent D’Onofrio, August 2017
“I feel like I have opinions, but like anybody else, I’m a citizen. As a citizen, I feel like I’m doing my best to be a good one. I stay aware, and I contribute. My job is to be inspired, to keep making things and hope that somebody will stumble across them and become inspired to make something themselves. It’s more of promoting this idea that aligning yourself with creativity rather than disruption is a good idea.” —Jeff Tweedy, August 2019
“When we were in the studio doing our unison thing, it sounded so good,” Shires said. “We all looked at each other thinking, ‘This is what the people can do. They can sing with us, and we’ll all be unified, together.’” —Amanda Shires, 2019
“There are things you can be doing in your life that can make your world and the world around you and even beyond you a better place through the domino effect. I think a big problem right now is the general cynicism, because we watch the news and it looks like everything’s just, you know, shit. But I think that if we all can take a deep breath, and pick what really matters in the world that’s around close to us, and live our lives that way, it will make the world a little bit easier to live in.” —Lukas Nelson, 2019
“When you do a really good play, the audience and the performers are looking into the same looking glass, the same microscope. And the specimen they are looking at is human life and that’s why I do it, that’s why I like it.” — John Malkovich, 2010
“The spirit of servitude that [Pete] Seeger brought to the world didn’t die when he passed away in 2014, and that fact is perhaps most evident at Newport Folk Festival, the now-iconic event that Seeger helped George Wein get off the ground in 1959. “The spirit of Pete, and of Pete’s egalitarian nature, is in every ounce of this festival’s DNA,” says Jay Sweet, executive producer of Newport Festivals.” —Dacey Orr Sivewright in The Bluegrass Situation, 5/22/2019
“We have such a great depth of human history in all of the arts, whether it’s opera or mathematics or painting or classical music or jazz. There’s so many things to study, new books to read, and certainly always ways to transform old ideas and to come up with new ones.” — Patti Smith, 2015
“I think that a society lives or dies according to its respect for its art.” —Kris Kristofferson, 1995
