with Grady Martin
with Louis Innis & Lightnin' Chance
with daughter Merle 1967
1935
1940
• ''As a sideman, I knew I could produce records, because I was working with a lot of people who couldn't. ... I knew I could at least do a lot better than they were doing.''
• ''I think my greatest ability, if I have any, was being able to see the ability in others ... to be able to sift the wheat from the chaff.''
On his recordings:
• ''On my records, I've always tried to get in as much finger picking as I can, because finger picking is me. It's what got me out of Appalachia and got me here in suburbia with a swimming pool, ... a swimming pool shaped like a guitar amplifier.''
On his guitar skills:
• ''I've never gotten it right. Not from my way of thinking. So I keep trying to get it right. ... I keep striving for perfection. I'm driven by some unknown force. I don't know what it is; a desire to be accepted, I guess.''
• ''I used to play everything too fast. That's part of youth. I used to keep a sign up on the recording machines that said, 'Watch The Tempo, Stupid!' ''
• ''I would love to master the guitar.''
• ''You leave a guitar alone for three days and it doesn't know you when you pick it up. It's just a constant battle getting acquainted with it and staying acquainted.''
• ''I want to be known as a guitar player because the guitar has brought me everything I've ever had; I don't want to ever neglect it.''
On his collaborations:
• ''When you work with other musicians, it's like having a verbal dialogue with somebody. You can sit and talk with yourself all day, and it's not very interesting to you or others. But if you sit and talk to somebody else, you say something to him he responds. Then you respond back. ... It's a lot more interesting.''
On excelling:
• ''The person who excels is the person who does something for the pure love of it and doesn't think of the commercial consequences. If you do something, do it right, then financial ... will usually take care of itself.''
On stardom:
• ''I've never been a big star, but I've become semi-well known, which I prefer, really. I don't have to play big halls where the sound is bad. I like to play in a hall of a thousand or so people where you have good sound and an intimate rapport with the audience.''
On goals:
• ''It's been a good life. I've fulfilled most of my goals. I always tell people to be careful where they aim because that might be where they end up.''
On running the business end of the music business:
• ''There's too much stress and you have to say no to people all the time, which I never liked. I never could tell someone, 'Hey, your song stinks; move on.' I'd always try to help them, try to advise them about how to write or whatever.''
On the Carter Sisters:
• ''These people changed my luck. They came along at a time when I needed them. I was broke. When I started playing with the Carter Sisters, I started making money.''
On innovation:
• ''Fight mediocrity tooth and nail; that's my motto.''
On himself:
• ''I'm a shy person, but I've learned to live with it and to capitalize on it and to use it.''
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