Browsing: Interviews

“Don’t be afraid to write crap, because crap is the best fertilizer. The more crap that you write the more likely you’ll grow something amazing.” – Pat Pattison

“The Beatles counted into ‘All My Loving’ from their second album and within the first five seconds it completely hit me and changed my life. There is something about it. I was awakened and suddenly there was color in the world, even though it was on a black and white screen.” – Luke Ray

“The most interesting time was recording Pink Anderson. I have the only known video of him which I allowed Stephan Grossman to release on one of his tapes that he put out.” – Joan Fenton

Kolassa’s songs have more hooks than a bait store, and he has an uncanny ability to find musicians who may not be the best known but the make his arrangements sparkle

“Growing up in Chicago the number one thing that inspired me was Gospel. I was always in churches. They say that Gospel is Blues dressed up for Sunday.” – Shawn James

“I dedicated the album to the city of Tel Aviv because that’s my main blues alley and where we mostly perform.” – Andy Watts

“I have fought a lot of battles inside myself during this journey of being a singer/songwriter/woman in this business. Trying to be Superwoman all the time will tear you down.”

“Over the past twenty years, the whole economics of being a songwriter has completely changed. If you were to take what you normally make today and divide it by ninety-one; that is what happened to the songwriters’ royalty rate as the consumer marketplace shifted from physical goods like albums to the streaming model. That is drastic.” – Amanda Colleen Williams

“I don’t hop freights or ride the rails. I don’t pick cotton. But it’s carrying on the tradition of a musical style which I really like.” – Donnie “Mr. Downchild” Walsh

“I have written a lot of jingles, but one of the things I like best is that I wrote the theme to ‘This Old House’ that ran for fifteen years.”