Bryce Dessner Quotes

I've been to almost every country in the world, and the most frustrating thing for me has been that my schedule has always been so busy that there's so little time before and after performances to explore where I'm visiting.

I was very young, and I kind of decided I wanted to do comedy. My parents were musicians, so we traveled on a tour bus. You're in a different town every night; as a kid, you're trying to make friends fast. You try to be funny.

It seems effortless and fun, and obviously it's hard work, but we love road life.

After two world tours where we played every state but Greenland, I only saw the inside of a hotel. I wouldn't have missed it for the world, but it did get tiring.

Being a musician means I am 'hanging out' a lot, like driving on tour or being at a show or whatever, so maybe there's more time to interact with peers and develop jokes.

We've sung to prerecorded tracks and things like that, but we've never done a proper world tour with a band and everything.

My first tour I was on the road for 18 months. You're just out there promoting.

Being on the road is like a campout. I'm the only girl. The guys in my band are like my big brothers. It's definitely an adventure, but it can be a nomadic lifestyle.

But for me, I thought you made a record, you got on a bus, went out and played your shows and made a lot of money. That was the way it was supposed to go down. But there's a lot more to it than that. There are a lot of early mornings, late nights, a lot of traveling, a lot of being away from home, being away from your family.

I don't write on tour. There is so much to do day in and day out when you are on the road.

There is a lot of work just in terms of traveling and logistics and people and gear and all that kind of stuff. But I never really have problems playing music. That never seems like work.

I don't mind traveling that much when I can go somewhere and stay there for a while, but touring is different. You rarely see anything. You get there early in the morning and you're resting all day, and you go in and do a sound check, and you do the show, and then bam you're gone.

It's always exciting to see different cities I love, and go on tour buses. It's so much fun to travel. My favorite part is being able to perform live in front of all these amazing people; being able to connect with them and seeing their reaction makes me feel very special.

There are no major cities I haven't been in - at least once. I'd be just as happy not to go out of town for a couple of months and play with toys.

I mean, what's great about touring is that's what you do. You're in a constant state of motion and then you stop to do a show and you move onto the next city. All you have to do is do the show. That's the only responsibility that you have.

We play a long show, and you can't beat yourself up too much over it, as physically you just kill yourself. It was always good fun on the road and it still is.

I love touring, I really do.

Touring is great because I love to travel.

You couldn't get me to go travel around and sit in a hotel room again. I have no interest in doing that. So everybody's happy. I am, at 74. Some people like doing it, but I never was much for that, anyway. It's a lot of work. So the only thing I miss about all of it is the camaraderie of the tour, but that doesn't offset the rest of it.

I do quite a lot of flying in my concerts.

I spent well over a year on the road with Sarah Vaughn. That was amazing.

I have a great time touring.

The worst thing about the life of a jazz musician on the road is getting to the gig. Once you're there and playing, it's marvelous.

I don't actually like touring.

I like to read and listen to music and go for walks and travel and see art. I enjoy cooking and eating and spending time with my family. I don't really find myself searching for things on the television very much.