"Nobody ever says, 'I've heard enough songs. Don't play me another one.' There's always room for another song." – Tom Waits pic.twitter.com/12ZRWNPAz3
— Eric Alper 🎧 (@ThatEricAlper) January 8, 2020
quote from Steve Earle
“When I write something simple I’m always really proud of it. When you write something that simple with that much air in it and the whole premise behind it is something pretty obvious – that everybody wants to be happy and free – the song is sort of an exercise in not forgetting that’s what you really want and what you really need. We can get caught up in a lot of other stuff.” —Steve Earle, 2016
click here for the full rolling stone interview with Earle and Shawn Colvin
quote from Alberto Giacometti
“When you look at art made by other people, you see what you need to see in it.” —Alberto Giacometti
quote from Sade
“Once a song’s out there, it’s no longer mine. And that the whole purpose of music: to belong to people.” —Sade Adu
Vincent D’Onofrio interview
“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
quote from Arlo Guthrie
“My dad’s songs were really written to make certain people feel as though they had some kind of value. Because they were told from where they work and from the countries they had immigrated from that they did not.”― Arlo Guthrie
open letter from Jay Sweet
As stated on our about page, the idea for this blog was born out of the experience of attending the Newport Folk Festival each year. This letter from the Executive Producer captures some of the reason why.
community-driven artist residencies in Mississippi
“You soak people in enough imagination, they see in each other what they can create.” –daniel johnson
2019 Kennedy Center Honors
“We would hope that art would bring us together as a nation, and make us all a little closer. We don’t want to, by any means, undermine the freedoms of the artist to see challenging things and to speak their truth, but at the same time it’s nice to see people brought together.” —LL Cool J, 12/8/2019
quote from Pops Staples
” If you sing from your heart — what comes from the heart, reaches the heart.” —Pops Staples