Click the bullet after each quote to visit the source.

There is a new documentary, just released, and it’s really of me simply being myself. And if people don’t like it, then they don’t have to f**king be around me. I don’t care about being a bad influence to peoples’ kids. I really don’t. I’ve been writing songs eight hours a day for twenty five years, and the reward of that is that I get to keep my spirit going the way I want to. ●
- – Todd Snider.

There’s not as many record companies as there used to be, though, and the ones left are having trouble competing with the Internet. A lot of songs are sort of given away — not normally a good thing if you have a record company! One night I was at a music premiere and a young kid came up and said, “I’m a big fan of yours; the other day I downloaded 12 of your songs.” ●
- – Willie Nelson on changes in music distribution and consumption.

I don’t know that when I first started listening to him that I was really trying to copy him. But after listening to him so much, I started going, ‘How does he do that?’ Then I just became obsessed, literally obsessed, listening to as much as I could. In recent years, it’s become almost a hobby. … Most people play golf or whatever; I sit down and listen to George Jones. ●
- – Lee Ann Womack on the George Jones influence in her vocal style.

I knew I didn’t want to make a country record, just because that’s not really what I would have ever made as a solo artist. I loved Martie and Emily and what they did on their instruments, and I loved what we created and how we sounded together. But as an overall genre, country music was never where I would have guessed I would have been. ●
- – Natalie Maines to NPR.

We were like, ‘Are you going to do anything anytime soon?’ She was like, ‘I don’t know, I might be done.’ We were like, ‘No! We will write you a record and when we do, you better cut it.’ ●
- – Angaleena Presley and her fellow Pistol Annies are doing their best to drag Patty Loveless out of semi-retirement from record-making. If it works, I’ll forgive their involvement in “Boys ‘Round Here.”

The strangest thing was, you would start to feel almost normal around him, watching football, eating dinner, telling jokes-just another legend in a La-Z-Boy recliner. And then I would go see him at the Grand Ole Opry or on the road and fans would start crying at the sight of him. He would bust into “White Lightning” and raise the roof. And then out of nowhere would come the words, “He said I’ll love you till I…” and suddenly, I’m 12. And I’m back in West Virginia, and I’m studying those records, wondering what he’s like. Or I’m 20 again, watching backstage the night before I leave home to chase my own dream. Wondering how he bends that word, how he milks every vowel. Watching how he works the mic, thinking, “Just how can one man sing that low and that high?” ●
- – Brad Paisley on getting to know George Jones, man and myth.

Ever just wanted to drink out of the container in the check out line while the cashier looks at you like you are totally crazy? ●
- – Ladies and gentlemen: Taste of Country’s Jeremy Robinson! Dude makes Alison Bonaguro look like Peter Guralnick.

I never wanted to learn to play music to play by myself, that’s never been much fun. Every time you play with somebody, that’s the point. It’s like having a conversation. It’s hard to have a conversation by yourself. It’s the same thing with an audience. If they don’t respond and it’s a one-sided conversation, you’re left feeling deflated. You want it to go both ways, the same with playing music. ●
- – Vince Gill on his love of collaboration.

Four country music stars are announcing their support for legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage in Illinois. ●
- – How many of the stars can you guess before clicking the link? Hint: Two men and two women, and your odds of hearing any of their recent works on a commercial country station aren’t great.

No one is going to write about people who are doing the same thing over and over. I think it’s very important to put your opinions in the music and create something that is different. You just have to be okay with it being destroyed once in a while. That’s part of it. ●
- – Eric Church on always taking chances.

Anyone who says they know is, well… see, I’m Australian. I use a lot of curse words. So I’m thinking now, ‘How do I put this?’ People will want to tell you that they think they know. But they don’t know if it’s a hit. No one does. ●
- – Sherrie Austin on music chart gurus and prognosticators.

He gets tickled all over himself sometimes, and we have to take him back to the bus and lock him up until he gets over it. We’ve talked about trademarking it, and Rounder has even talked about putting a ring tone out with his laugh. When it goes off, you will not miss your phone call! ●
- – Jamie Dailey on the infectious laugh of duo partner Darrin Vincent.

Click the bullet after each quote to visit the source.

We say our A&R guy, his name’s Jesus Christ. He brought us together, and he gave us the songs, and the time to spend with each other, and the music drives what we do. ●
- – Now even Jesus is an honorary Annie? Good grief, Angaleena Presley.

I wrote that song a long time ago. When I first moved here, I dated this boy who worked on the railroad, he drove a big Chevy truck with a lift kit on it, and we’d go up in the hills and go muddin’. One night he got his truck stuck and literally it sank down, and we had to get a backhoe to come up there and get it out. That guy, he’s my dad, he’s their dad, he’s our uncles. ●
- – Angaleena Presley on “Loved by a Workin’ Man” from upcoming sophomore album Annie Up. Believe what you want to believe, but I choose to interpret this as NOT meaning that she dated her own father.

Do we need old school country music? Hard to say. But you listen to the processed, bulked up steroidal arena country, then put on “When the Grass Grows Over Me.” Feel the difference and decide which has the most immediacy, the most charisma, the most punch to the stomach. It won’t take but a bar or two. ●
- – Holly Gleason, in a CMT.com article on the passing of George Jones.

MUSICAL HERO
“Joe, Joe, Joe Diffie.”
CD IN YOUR STEREO
“Randy Houser’s How Country Feels.” ●
- – Aaand Tate Stevens has completely lost my interest. That was fast.

The Jason Aldeans, the Brantley Gilberts–they’re bringing that rock element to country music. It broadens the whole thing, which is awesome. So you’ll hear some guitar tones and sounds that are like that ’80s rock–late ’70s, ’80s, the Journeys, the Foreigners, that kind of REO Speedwagon sound. I love that stuff. ●
- – And Tate Stevens has kindly relieved me of any guilt I might have felt about dismissing him on the basis of two Q&A responses without hearing any of the music.

I happen to feel that genres are gone in music. I just think that with the digital age, whether it’s satellite radio, terrestrial radio, Pandora, whatever, there are no more genres. There’s good music. There’s bad music. I think it’s an exciting time in music that you can have all the stereotypes and all the things that are placed on it, whether it’s country music, rap music or rock music. That’s all broken down at a festival like Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo or whatever. It becomes about the music. ●
- – Eric Church.

But most of all, what excites me about Hunter Hayes is the pureness inside that heart, his love for music. It’s really emotional to me because I see God working in him. ●
- – Stevie Wonder on Hunter Hayes. Ergo, if you don’t like Hunter Hayes, you are most likely going to hell.

I’m going to tell people, a lot of artists already do it. I think I’ve been guilty of it in the past, too. We take some of our tickets, we put them on StubHub, overcharge with what the market determines they’re worth … I’m taking 1,000 of them and I’m scalping them. ●
- – Kid Rock on the (widespread?) practice of scalping one’s own tickets for profit.

I’m not trying to be like my dad and sell 70 million records. And I can’t be a legend in the history of country music. When people say, ‘Do you want to follow in their footsteps?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I want to be successful and do things my way — like they did.’ ●
- – Holly Williams on making the most of family legacies.

Luke [Bryan] tells Country Weekly that he was “one thousand percent” surprised at the big honor. ●
- – You know, I get the feeling Luke Bryan doesn’t have a great grasp of how percentages work.