It may be that my most helpful contributions to music aren't my compact discs but my articles about other great singers of the past for American Heritage magazine.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I've got a collection of songs that I've had, I keep adding to and they're all great American composers. I wanted to showcase American composers and I've done that on a lot of my records and played things by American composers that I really respect.
My reading is always about musical biographies. I have an innate interest and passion for that.
I'm sure I would have been considered a more significant artist if I was a singer-songwriter. It's just not the way I roll. I love being a curator and a musicologist. People write me letters and thank me for turning them on to Fred McDowell and Sippie Wallace, and that's partly my job this time around.
My mother had a great vinyl collection, and she was constantly playing female singer-songwriters. I first learned about classic song structures by listening to them, and Laura Nyro particularly stood out. Her voice was outside what you'd usually hear on the radio; that really appealed to me.
I've always enjoyed the enthusiasm of the best studio musicians and, over the years, have collected so many inspired contributions from them.
I don't consider myself much of a singer. I'm a writer first.
I'd be happy if people said that I did a little bit to raise the dignity and recognition of the greatness of African-American music.
The work I've done through my Common Culture Music series has enabled me not only to share my joy of music at scale but also promote the artists I love.
People need to put my music in a perspective where they use other established artists from the past, and almost all the names I see related to my music are great musicians.
I'm not the best singer in the world, but the albums have always been personal. They're stories about me and what I'm going through.
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