My parents would drag me out to perform for my family, like all parents do, but it was a hobby – nothing more.
BONNIE RAITTIt is still a surprise when people tell me that I’ve had an influence on them, particularly when it’s someone I really respect.
More Bonnie Raitt Quotes
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I was already doing really well in terms of my goals, to keep my fans coming back.
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Solar power is the last energy resource that isn’t owned yet – nobody taxes the sun yet.
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Jazz and blues fests are everywhere now, and Americana is going strong on college radio. What I’m hearing is an appreciation of real music.
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There are a lot of people that never get their stories told.
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Life gets mighty precious when there’s less of it to waste.
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I like to think I get better with age, but maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder.
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The fifth member of my band is my non-profit work.
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With slide guitar, you’re just hanging this piece of glass on your hand. It’s a really beautiful instrument in that it’s so responsive, you’re just slipping your hand back and forth.
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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.
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I think that we have a unique opportunity as performers and artists to be kind of the town criers and also to get more people to listen, so that’s a blessing and a responsibility that I take very seriously.
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I’m in a relationship, and I’ve been in one in a while, but all the people I’ve been with at various points – and I’ve had sequentially monogamous relationships my whole life – were all the right people at the right time.
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Nobody went out to pasture, and a lot of people are doing their best work. Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Sting are at the top of their game.
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Those of us who grew up in the ’50s and ’60s, we had the dream that this could be turned around, and the earth could be back in balance, and that we could level the playing field with men and women and pay, and you know, minority groups having equal opportunity.
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The talent on YouTube is incredible, and it can spread like wildfire. The downside is that it’s very hard to convince the younger generation that they should pay for music.
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Elvis might have compromised his musical style a bit towards the end, but that doesn’t mean that artists from the rock n’ roll/folk-roots culture – of which he was not really a part – shouldn’t get better as they get older, like the great jazz or blues artists.
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In my early twenties, if I wasn’t getting good enough at it, then people would not come and see me. Anybody who has lasted this long – I hope we get better with age.
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How I measure success is getting to make another record and being able to the come back to the same town and play again cause you sold out the last time.
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I’ve been lucky enough that I can gather all sorts of experiences and find inspiration by traveling around and by spending time with people I admire.
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There would be no rock and roll or rhythm and blues without Leo Fenders’ contribution … the tone is everything
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Distribution has really changed. You can make a record with a laptop in the morning and have it up on YouTube in the afternoon and be a star overnight.
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Whatever role we were in our family of birth, we take on this persona and in your 20s and 30s in particular, you end up thinking that’s you and that isn’t necessarily you.
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My love was Bob Dylan, but as I got older I realized a good ballad was a good ballad.
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I think we have responsibilities to be active in the things we believe in, regardless of what our job is.
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The fact is that this conversation is going on at every level at every age, we’re all going, “God, what a jerk I’ve been,” “How could I have married that guy?” or “How could I have done this or that?” With time, this is the gift of being older, that you get to look back and say, “It wasn’t all about them.”
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We did a two month tour with Taj Mahal that was really healing and cathartic and a good distraction after my brother passed away. Then I knew I wanted to take a year off, and it was really nice to have that chance to fall apart.
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Thank God for Occupy and thank God for ‘The Daily Show,’ Colbert and the rising up that’s going on around the world.
BONNIE RAITT