J. D. Souther Quotes

I don’t think I ever thought of growing up to be anything other than a musician. There really wasn’t a plan B. Well, a kind of a distant plan B was to be a Formula One driver, but there really wasn’t an entry point.

I’m always writing something. There’s always some structure sitting around someplace. There’s always things on the computer, things scratched on score paper, legal tablets full of lyrics. It’s never not buzzing around me all the time. I’m always doing it.

Mike Campbell and Don Henley and I wrote ‘The Heart of the Matter,’ which was a huge hit for Don.

Dixie Chicks surprised me with a beautiful three-part harmony version of ‘I’ll Take Care of You.’ And Don Henley’s performance of ‘The Heart of the Matter’ still just slays me every time I hear it.

I save everything. I have these carefully organized file boxes. Somewhere in there is a section of the ‘New York Times’ where I wrote ‘The Border Guard’ in the margin.

If it hadn’t worked out professionally, I would be teaching music theory and composition in a small college somewhere and playing drums in a jazz trio at the Holiday Inn on weekends, and I’d be happy there, too.

I’m not a great band member; I’m more of a band leader.

Think back to the early rock n’ roll records, and the average record length in the ’50s – and well into the ’60s – was two and a half minutes. It’s very hard to put that much songwriting into two and a half minutes.

I never fully understand all the drama and machinations within the Eagles.

I don’t want to think that anything is off limits for me to write about, but I also don’t want to intrude on anybody’s life, which is why there’s very little specificity or names in the songs I write.

I had a jazz trio, a rock n’ roll band, and I played drums in junior high, high school, college, big bands, and I played timpani in the symphony. I am a drummer. It’s the one instrument I actually play pretty well. It’s just hard to carry on your back.

A song of mine called ‘I’ll Take Care of You’ was on that ‘Wide Open Spaces’ Dixie Chicks album.

I love Massachusetts for a number of reasons. I once loved a magical girl who lived in a magnificently converted barn, a half-hour or so from Boston. I love your winters. I love the snow.

I have a wonderful piano that I really love: a handmade Yamaha grand. Sometimes I’m sitting there, and it sounds so good that I find some little melody or a phrase that leads me into a song, but probably more often than not, I actually grab a notebook.

The power of network television is amazing. I’ve been performing for years but have been seen on only a few episodes of this show, and people spot me in public now all the time. They say, ‘Hey, aren’t you on ‘Nashville’?’ Most locals seem to really appreciate how authentic the show is.

I’ve been singing and writing songs only a little longer than acting. I really enjoy both.

I grew up with singers. My father’s mother sang opera. My dad was a big band singer. I can’t remember a time there wasn’t music in the house, so I grew up listening to great songwriters – George Gershwin, Cole Porter – and my grandma was playing opera for me before I was 3.

In the ’80s, I got tired of the rat race. It was a terrible time for music. I wasn’t part of that whole MTV craze. I did ‘Go Ahead and Rain,’ which was Madeleine Stowe’s first bit, but felt no connection to it. I went many years where I didn’t have to work.