If people are really excited about their music, and that's their primary motivation, then that comes through in demo tapes. That's the most important ingredient.
Living in the U.K., there is no way to know whether anyone in India likes my music, but I was surprised to see people singing along while I performed in Pune.
I feel completely fortunate to have this outlet for something I don't really feel like I have a choice in, to make music. I've got to make it.
If you get involved in music expecting to make a living out of it, then you've picked the wrong thing to do. That shouldn't really be in your mind.
I feel like the reason people feel like they know me is because I'm giving you myself in the music. There's where the connection comes from; you can't Twitter that.
I write songs because I have to write them, and if I didn't I'd be doing some other kind of music that didn't require a song.
The drive to create music that is pure is my highest priority. Sometimes I'll get extremely technical, and other times I'll just kind of go with the gods of music.
I consider my music to be Progressive Synth Pop, which says nothing about what it sounds like, but does describe my basic approach.
Music can describe emotions far more accurately than words ever can. As soon as I realised that, I knew music was where I wanted to be.
In the end, the sign of Aretha Franklin's artistry is that she always leaves her mark - first, on the music, then on us.
I didn't start playing music really until I was 18/19, so it was a relatively new thing. I didn't play much music in school.
It bothers me when musicians listen to music from the '60s and try and recreate it. Those people weren't trying to recreate music from the '20s. Why do it?
When I started out, I wanted to be the kind of artist who could play the CMA Music Festival and then turn around and play Bonnaroo, and I've managed to do both.
We asserted ourselves as a music community, and showed legislators that music is positive. Especially if you've sold 300 million records worldwide and pay taxes.
I don't like to talk about things where you're going to gt one side or the other unhappy. My music has no politics.
When I'd tell people I like country music they'd get this look on their faces. People were kind of ashamed of country.
I started writing music when I was around twelve. My current record company saw a video of me performing at my school's talent show.
When I was younger, I was fascinated by David Bowie, for example. he had created an entire myth around himself. It was as important as his music.
It's so easy to put music out that it's difficult to sift through stuff that I don't like to find stuff I do like.
Music is timeless, so I want to give people shows they'll never forget so that I can do this forever.
Jazz really does try to include everything. It's always been popular music. But the wonderful thing about jazz is its willingness to take chances.
