14 Quotes by Scott Avett

Someone like John Prine can write a song that tears into your soul, turn it over, and write a song that makes you laugh and feel light as a feather. With someone like him, you’re getting a real picture of a person, a real expression.

I very much enjoyed Leo Tolstoy’s What is Art? I can’t quote it, it’s been a while, but at the end of the day, the idea is that “art that does good in the world is art, and what doesn’t is not. It’s propaganda or something else. It’s bad.”

Sometimes I’m extremely afraid of the unknown, but I’m so grateful to be on that journey.

One of the things that I love about painting is that I never consider myself to have an audience.

In painting, the key is not taking myself seriously to the point where it kills sincerity.

It was Rick’s Rubin idea to have the ‘Brooklyn’ verse repeat. It already was a story, but having that made it a folk song. Instead of this rambling march of verses, Rick understands that music needs hooks. You need that repeated chorus, that everyone can sing along to.

In the music world, when we’re making work, we are obligated to no longer be completely free from what we are to someone else – sort of like an athlete, where you become a role model to someone.

I have always considered myself an artist and painting was the first medium that I claimed.

We have to continue to grow within and outwardly. We have to keep going.