James Taylor

“People have used my songs and guitar style to teach guitar for a long time.”

“We all have to face pain, and pain makes us grow.”

“The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.”

“Being on a boat that's moving through the water, it's so clear. Everything falls into place in terms of what's important and what's not.”

“Certain things in life are more important than the usual crap that everyone strives for.”

“If I were to try to identify a turning point I'd say that was it - getting clean.”

“I played the cello from when I was ten, and then I bought a guitar from the father of some friends of mine and played that for a while. And then when I was fourteen or so, I bought a guitar - a real nice one - in Durham, North Carolina, that I worked with up until I was about twenty-five.”

“I don't get into heavy political numbers because I don't find them lyrical.”

“I have a studio in a barn at home - we rehearse there, we film there and we record there. It's fun to hang out with my guys and see what comes out next.”

“If you feel like singing along, don't.”

“I'm glad about what's happening to the music business. This last crop of people we had in the 90s, who are going away now, they didn't like music. They didn't trust musicians. They wanted something else from it.”

“I don't reinvent myself in any major way. It seems to be a slow evolution. I go back and visit certain themes that I feel strongly about and resonate with me emotionally.”

“I'm very unstable; there's no stability in a musician's life at all. You live on a bus or on the road hand to mouth and you don't know where your money's coming from.”

“That's the motivation of an artist - to seek attention of some kind.”

“If you think my music is sentimental and self-absorbed, I agree with you.”

“One of my earliest memories was me singing 'Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin' at the top of my voice when I was seven. I got totally carried away. My grandmother, Sarah, was in the next room. I didn't even realise she was there. I was terribly embarrassed.”

“I find it a lot healthier for me to be someplace where I can go outside in my bare feet.”

“I'm glad that I still have the ability to tour in Europe. I do love it.”

“I was in chemical jail.”

“I don't read music. I don't write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself.”