More - Rodney Crowell Quotes

Epictetus was a peasant child born about 50 A.D. who grew up to be a well-known Stoic philosopher, ... In modern buzz-word speak, he was the inventor of 'What people think of me is none of my business.' So I got really hooked on him.

Rodney Crowell

 

He's the guy that developed the philosophy of, 'What people think of me is none of my business,' ... It evoked Picasso and Miles Davis for me — two great artists who totally indulged themselves in their work and who they were, but they certainly didn't give a damn what other people thought.

Rodney Crowell

 Business

and I innocently hit an electric commercial streak, writing some songs and making some music that was just an exploration of a particular moment in my creative path but struck a chord in the country part of the culture at the time. Unfortunately for me, it sent me into a bit of self-consciousness where I sort of abandoned the patience and started thinking, 'Oh, I've made money for these people, now I've got to make more money for them.' The funny thing about me is I was twisted enough that I didn't think about the money I was making for myself. I come from a lack of privilege, post-Depression era people, and we would never presume that we possessed the worthiness to strike it rich on our own. So it sent me into trying to write hits, and it's not my favorite time of my -- would you call it a legacy? -- my career. That's the point where I got self-conscious, and self-consciousness is the enemy of good art. You've got to come from the innocent, subconsciously clear place.

Rodney Crowell

 Exploration

So I set it in a bar and made him say, 'Hey, I'm a drag when I've had a few drinks, you know?' While I was careful to give him ownership of the fact that he was ranting, it's certainly my beliefs. To me, the presidential election was a smokescreen, a diversion. From my point of view, the engine room for what's wrong is in Congress. That's really the connection between the people and government.

Rodney Crowell

 

Unfortunately, 9/11 crystallized some misconceptions that made some people unable to realize that really healthy dissent is in truth more supportive of those poor soldiers being sent to get slaughtered than this blind allegiance to a certain political regime, ... It's like the Earth is flat and we're gonna walk off the edge of it. It causes me a certain amount of dismay. I realize that Americans are innocent -- only seven percent of our population even owns a passport. But man, I'll tell you, I don't think corporate America and the political regimes meet in an innocent place, and they don't mind using the innocence of Americans in a greedy way.

Rodney Crowell

 Dissent

It's Alright, Ma' would be the prototype for that tune, I freely admit, ... When I was 12 years old, or however old I was when Bringing It All Back Home came out, I'd just skip back and forth endlessly between 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' and 'It's Alright, Ma' and 'Mr. Tambourine Man,' and now my Dylan roots are showing big time.

Rodney Crowell

 

I wanted to dismantle any show-business pretense and take this thing straight as a human being, ... So I said, 'I'm gonna write this, and where I think I'm great, I'm gonna say it, and where I think I'm not, I'm gonna say it. And I'm gonna try to love and accept myself along the way.'

Rodney Crowell

 Business

Don?t Get Me Started

Rodney Crowell

 

I don't think it will ever be my style to take a big mallet and just ... bust the window with it, ... I have to get there in a more subtle way.

Rodney Crowell

 Style

I am deeply saddened by the loss of my children's grandfather and my very dear friend. I loved big John with all my heart. ... Johnny Cash will, like Will Rogers, stand forever as a symbol of intelligence, creativity, compassion and common sense.

Rodney Crowell