Chris Thile

“People who are happy with their neighborhoods in New York always say the same thing: 'It's such a neighborhood!' And that's how we feel about Carroll Gardens. We see all the same people who have been there a long time and are very friendly and welcoming to us.”

“If you're sitting there going, 'Well, these particular genres are the only genres I like,' that's like saying, 'I only like books with this particular kind of cover.' Because that's all genre is. It's a discussion of texture.”

“We love music, and when it's good we flip. And we want to get to the core of why it's good.”

“I think that we'll see the concept of 'genre' continue to die a slow and painful death.”

“I was introduced to classical music by my grandparents - my parents were mostly into folk and jazz. Even as a young man, I was literally unaware of the distinctions between any of that, and I still think it's pointless.”

“Like a sporting event, live events are the one thing you can't have anytime you want them.”

“Really the greatest music I've ever heard I've hated the first time I heard it. It's been abrasive at first; it's been something that challenged me in a way that I wasn't fully comfortable with.”

“I'm a massive Roger Federer fan, and sometimes I can see in his game the willful development of a tactic or technique that doesn't come as naturally to him, like fixating on improving the backhand. And I'm thinking, Hit the forehand! It's what you do!”

“New York will make you feel small. I think that's good. At least, it's good for me.”

“To be able to rub shoulders with kids who have spent their entire lives studying the classics... that's something I need to improve my overview.”

“I am an incorrigible coffee geek. I make espresso.”

“Hats off to musicians who just want a pure escape. I have a lot of fondness for pure escapism. I don't feel like it's irresponsible, I think sometimes you really need to take a breather.”

“For years, my actual listening activity has been governed by what I perceived to be good for me as a musician, almost like the way an athlete trains for a given sporting task. I'd listen to something if I felt it would improve my sense of harmony or counterpoint, or whatever I was working on.”

“The great thing about jamming is that you come in with zero preconceptions. Someone might want to play something that suggests something else to you, and the next thing you know you're on a 20-minute adventure.”

“I love music so much. It's like the one thing I'm good at.”

“Since I was little, I've always put a lot of pressure on myself.”

“I love the string band. I love the sound of it, the possibilities of it, I love the physical sensation of creating and performing in it. It's my voice.”

“In my mind, there's this one 'super genre,' which is the only genre that matters, and that's the super genre of good music.”

“The darned thing about mandolins is they're really hard to turn up as loud as you would need to be to play with a drum set. They cease to sound like mandolins.”

“The power of live music is vast. Live music is a wonderful way to spend some time.”