“I had always loved music. I grew up listening to classic country, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard. My dad loved Vern Gosdin and Keith Whitley. So I kept going to class and started getting totally into playing guitar and teaching myself these songs.” CountrySongClassTeachingListeningGrewDadGrew UpGuitarMy DadClassicKeithPlaying GuitarHaggard Author:Jake Owen
“I grew up in New York City in the '80s, and it was the epicenter of hip-hop. There was no Internet. Cable television wasn't as broad. I would listen to the radio, hear cars pass by playing a song, or tape songs off of the radio. At that time, there was such an excitement around hip-hop music.” SongCitiesCarNew YorkTelevisionGrewInternetGrew UpHip HopRadioHipsExcitementHopsBroadsNew York CityTape80sCablesHip Hop Music Author:Michael Rapaport
“I started playing guitar and writing songs when I was 15. I think what mainly sparked my interest was just the fact that I grew up listening to Cheryl King, Joni Mitchell, and James Taylor, and was just always inspired by that sort of organic art, and organic songs and just very natural songwriting that came out of some of those artists.” ThinkingWritingArtFactsArtistSongInterestNaturalListeningGrewKingsGrew UpInspiredGuitarSongwritingWriting SongsPlaying Guitar Author:Kate Voegele
“I don't know if it's cool to say this anymore, but I grew up listening to Gary Glitter. A majority of his songs were in that shuffle-blues beat, and I think that's probably why I tend to write like that.” IfsThinkingKnowsWritingSongListeningGrewGrew UpBeatsMajorityGlitterGaryShuffle Author:Martin Gore
“I'm not an original composer. The tunes are not stolen from other tunes necessarily except in a few cases, but they're in the style of songs that I grew up with.” SongCasesStyleGrewGrew UpOriginalsTunesComposerStolen Author:Tom Lehrer
“My father urged Alan [Lomax] not to repeat the mistakes of the European folklorists who, a century ago, had collected these peasant songs and then arranged them for part choir and accompanied them on piano, and then told the young people of their country, "Don't change a note, this is our sacred heritage." Father said, whether it's a fiddle tune or a gospel song, learn it right off the record from the people who grew up with it. Don't just learn it from a piece of paper.” PeopleSaidCountryYoungSongFatherMistakeRecordsPiecesCenturyGrewPaperGrew UpSacredNotesPianoRepeatsTunesHeritagePeasantsDon't ChangeChoirFiddleGospel Songs Author:Pete Seeger
“I grew up watching Grease, and Grease 2. I fantasized about walking through school halls and busting out in a song. At that time, I was too much of a chicken to do so. Id love the challenge now.” SchoolSongChallengesToo MuchGrewWalkingGrew UpChickensHallsGreaseBustingBusting Out Author:J. D. Pardo
“Me personally, I side more with punk rock bands. I grew up with The Misfits, The Dead Boys, The Damned, Dropkick Murphys, and early AFI. That was the stuff that really got me into music. Song writing wise, bands like Alkaline Trio were very important to me for beginning to write songs.” WritingImportantSongStuffSidesBoysWiseRocksGrewBandGrew UpPunkPunk RockRock BandsMisfitsTrios Author:Andy Biersack
“Once I grew up and realised 'What am I doing?' I started re-listening to the music I was playing and I realised there was so much finesse - it was dynamic and simple but I wanted to be authentic to the original songs.” WantedSongSimpleListeningGrewGrew UpOriginalsRealisedFinesse Author:Eric Hernandez
“I'm not against the Hanukkah songs. I like Hanukkah songs. I grew up with Hanukkah songs. I'm not opposed to Hanukkah or the songs that accompany it, at all.” SongGrewGrew UpAccompanyHanukkah Author:Howard Dean