Pastoral Resources

Sometimes we drop in and do an acoustic set somewhere, and that's really fun to take all these insanely loud songs, and to do them quiet. It's really a sight to see... or to hear!

Stevie didn't use the technology to drive the song. He used it to enhance. I use the tools to further my work, I don't use my work to further the tools.

You can't listen to what people who aren't musical have to say. When Anytime was released, I had bad reviews, and at first I was hurt. Your songs are like your children. You don't want to hear, 'Your kid is ugly.' But I knew the record was good and it would sell.

I keep these songs in my head until I get behind the microphone. I never spend more than 30 or 40 minutes singing the vocal or it will sound mechanical. There are always mistakes, but it's about feeling more than being perfect.

They are very personal, emotional songs - people react to them very strongly.

'Time after Time' is one of the best pop songs ever written, in my opinion. It's an incredible, beautiful, timeless song.

I think often sadness is a great place to get songs from.

American Pie speaks to the loss that we feel. That's why that song has found the niche that it has.

In a sense, 'American Pie' was a very despairing song but it can also be seen as very hopeful.

Nowadays it seems to me nobody takes trouble about anything, especially writing songs.

Some of the best songs I've written, I've written in 10 minutes.

My songs are self-explanatory... somebody pointed out to me that... my songs pretty much speak for themselves.

There's a whole bunch of unfinished stuff. Then I've got books of lyrics. I find it frustrating to finish a song and not be able to record it... so I don't write a million songs.

I find it hard to get excited by just a sound. I have to have a song there, then I'll find what used I can make of that sound within the song.

For Stevie, the words are of prime importance; the song moves around the words, rather than the words moving around the song.

Prayer does not use up artificial energy, doesn't burn up any fossil fuel, doesn't pollute. Neither does song, neither does love, neither does the dance.

If my life were a song it'd be called 'Here I Am' because here I am - I mean, I'm Thia and I'm here to me me, I'm here to express myself musically which I find is the best way to express myself.

The type of music that I love to sing would have to be more bluesy and jazzy and more soul-like 'cause I love to belt when it comes to singing, so I guess bigger songs are what I lean more towards.

This is not a rock opera. This is not Tommy. I can write songs that emote, and that's it.

My thought was I should try to stick with names that people may recognize like Robert Johnson, Son House, and Hoagy Carmichael, so if somebody cared to research, they would find a wealth of material.