Bob Seger Quotes

I want to try different things but, most importantly, always be true to my roots and keep it organic. I'm never going to leave bachata behind. I'm always going to be a bachatero first.

It's not like if I play in big places I won't be happy. But I don't want to start adapting to what's in style to make my music. I want to stay true to my roots, to keep making the music I love, that comes from my soul. And if there are people who want to listen to it, I'm happy.

You're always going to sound like yourself, but you can make really strong attempts to keep some similarities, but move away from what you did before for popularity's sake.

I'm totally open to exploring different types of music. I just have to always remember to be true to who I am.

If one uses music that one does not really love, then one will not succeed in making it one's own.

I could play it safe by recording songs that are familiar, but am I expanding myself as an artist by doing covers? It's a catch-22. It's called show business: The word 'business' is in it, and you've got to be a businessman. But then again, you have to be true to yourself as an artist.

All I can do is focus on staying true to the style of music I write and sing because that is the only way it's going to come off as honest.

I'm not trying to become a pop artist, and I'm not trying to make sure I stay a country artist. I'm just trying to make sure I make the best music I can, according to my way.

Believe me, I love commerce as much as the rest of the readers of 'Businessweek.' But in art, you have to be true to yourself and your musical vision. People have known me well for a long time, so if I was chasing a trend and doing something that wasn't authentic to who I am, they would know it in just a few seconds.

I know what my sound is. I'm just trying to get it out there how I can explain it. I'm not trying to write or put out some music that doesn't represent me.

No one can make the album they made 10 years ago with a straight face. There are two reasons: one is you change as a person. To be a true artist, I have to be true to who I am now and write that way. And the second thing is these are different times.

I don't dismiss the music that I was involved with, I don't think it was a joke, I don't think it was funny or a phase, I don't think it was just something I was doing back then, to me it was who I am. It connects all the way through. I don't distance myself from any of it.

It is a wise tune that knows its own father, and I like my music to be the legitimate offspring of respectable parents.

If you're doing black music, you should have a core understanding of where that comes from, and the fundamentals - so you're not some bozo thinking you're doing something new.

I felt like it was the space that I could be the most authentic of anywhere because of how I grew up. Even though some of the songs and some of the texture wasn't what I like, I felt like country music was more authentic, in general, than anywhere else.

I learned a long time ago with guitars and amps or anything else, whatever band I'm in, I'm just going to sound like me anyway, so I just stay true to that.

I just want to make great music. There's not a genre that I would categorize it as, but I want it to be true and authentic.

I like hearing fiddles, steel guitar, acoustics up loud - really rock & roll stuff but with a country sound behind it. That's just who I am. I'm not trying to prove a point; I am just doing what I like. But I don't have any problems with any other artist coming in and doing their own thing.

If you go out and just play the old stuff and never write new stuff, you're not really a complete musician, you're a performer.

We listen to so many different types of music, so it's easy for us to play a different genre or style and it be true to what we do.

I've always had a close connection to both rock and classical music.

I try never to focus on the radio, just find great songs, find emotion and just write the best songs you can. I think when you get fixated on trying to do something too accurate, it becomes more washed out and less what you intended it to be. So I think each time the challenge for me is to try and reinvent a little bit.

The music that I chose during my life, it wasn't arbitrary. It was all in my family home when I was growing up. I never tried to record anything I hadn't heard before the age of 10. Otherwise, I couldn't do it authentically.

I don't try to make the guitar sound like the harpsichord or lute. That makes you end up being like a bad copy.

For me as a solo artist, I never want to be a nostalgia act.