Quotes About Musician

I've always considered myself a serious guitar player, but I haven't been really worried about whether the public thought I was. That never was part of my record sales strategy.

You stop anybody on any street, around the world, and they know who Eric Clapton is. They don't know who I am!

I used to be friends with Miles Davis. He didn't like many folks. I lived across the street from him.

I met Sonny after (Blind Boy) Fuller died, and me and Sonny played in the streets like everybody else.

I can't stress too much how much Ry Cooder was an influence on me. Having one of the most respected musicians around like my singing really gave me the confidence to do it.

So it's more the musician in me that makes me stretch out and try different things more than anything. But, like a lot of guitar players, I have one certain niche that's my thing that I'm better at than the others.

I'm kind of a feel player. I'll stretch out before a show a bit and do some playing, but that's about it. I'm not one of these 10-hour-a-day playing guys.

Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull is now a good friend, and the thing that strikes you about him is that he's all about details.

I'll always leave the same set of strings on my guitars when I'm recording. If I break one I'll just replace it instead of putting on a whole new set of strings.

I had a stroke in December of '99, and it affected my left side - my fingering side.

I started out as a musician. Although I always wanted to have a dual career, I fell into the TV and movie business more strongly and more quickly.

I feel like the word 'influencer' is something that I've - I don't want to say struggled with, but I've kind of, like, expanded on that because I started as a musician. And my following came because of that, so it's always been, like, musician first and, I guess, social-media influencer second.

I had to deal with being somewhat of an outcast because it's not socially acceptable to be a struggling musician. There have been times where I've felt sorry for the person I was dating. I felt she deserved better.

Career had a lot to do with 80 percent of my breakups. It's very tough to date a struggling musician. The idea of it is enticing and fun and mysterious. But the reality is long hours and hard work. I have a lot of respect for the women I've dated.

I always knew I wanted to be a musician, and I always knew I wanted to write, 'cause the people I was listening to all wrote. I never thought it was an option to sing anyone else's songs.

My great inspiration has always been Studs Terkel, who is a wonderful American oral historian. He was a radio DJ at first, interviewed a lot of jazz musicians, and at some point started to interview Americans about work.

I like acting and being a musician. It's like comparing apples and oranges. But I really like my day job. I've always played music since I was 12, and I guess I always will.

I don't like playing to guitar players, actually. I'd rather just play to ordinary people.

But I've come to the point in my evolution on the instrument where I realize that I can't play the same stuff that just a guitar player or organ player would play - and I need to embrace that in a big way.

When I die, I'll probably climb out of the coffin and play the organ at my own funeral!

I'm basically a keyboard player, so if it's got a keyboard on it, I'll give it a shot. I played a lot of organ in the early days. I can make a few chords on guitar, but that's about it.

Hippies? Why, I'm the original.

At the end of the day, I'm a New Orleans musician. Whatever that means.

And of course, the musician - if he's serious - always answers: My last album is my best, otherwise I wouldn't have done it.