Welcome to the Quotable Country page! Have you ever been curious about what your favorite country singers are thinking and feeling? Well this page is the place to come! I have compiled bunches of quotes from all sorts of country singers. You might just find out that these people are not only really neat people but that they are also just a little like yourself! Enjoy!
WOMEN OF COUNTRY!
REBA MCENTIRE
Music will always be my first love and biggest kick. 1996 I don’t like to be categorized. I don’t like to be coralled or fenced in. I think there’s only two categories for songs: good and bad. And whether it’s pop, contemporary, traditional, whatever it is, once I sing it, it’s gonna be country. 1995 If a man is sexy, that doesn’t offend the men in the crowd. They know the women are just having fun. But if a gal is sexy and somthing of a come-on, the women in the audience take offense. They don’t want their husbands or their boyfriends seeing that. 1993 Liking country is suddenly hip. The younger generation will be our audence for the next 10 years. They can relate to what I sing about. It’s something that happens to them everyday. 1993 We’re backing off a lot from the kind of stuff like sighing autographs for 15 hours at Fan Fair. Because I’ve hit 40, and I’m getting too old for that. I don’t want to put my fans through that, either, because they’re loyal and they’ll sit there for 15 hours. 1996 I’ve never been at the top. There’s always somebody out there that’s better, faster, wittier, and does something that sells more tickets or albums, or is more popular. I’ve always been a bridesmaid. 1993 When you’re a public figure, everything you do is fair game for “ reinterpretation.” 1996 I think when people see themselves as the stars that other people do, it’s pretty much all over. 1993 When I walked onstage at the 1993 Country Music Association Awards, I heard the audience gasp. I didn’t dare look down. I got more press from that red dress than if I’d won Entertainer of the Year. 1996 For me, singing sad songs often has a way of healing a situation. It gets the hurt out in the open, into the light, out of the darkness. 1993 I’m trying to sing songs for women, to say to them what they can’t say for themselves. Women today are more indepenendent. They’re not slapped around as much. They don’t take it as much as they used to. I want to be those women’s friend. Like I was a woman whose husband was cheatin’ on me, or who worked nine to five, sick to death of my job, sick to death of the kids, sick to death of my husband, sick to death of what I’m havin’ to go through. That’s the kind of songs I pick. There’s a lot of women out there who just want to have three minutes of rebellion. 1993 God put me on this earth to sing. Basically, He gave the voice to Mama. But Mama couldn’t use it, so she passed it down to us kids. 1988 I’m going to be 90 years old, still out there singing. They’re going to have to drag me off with one of those old vaudevile hooks. 1993 Growing up is not being so dead set on making everybody happy. 1994
DOLLY PARTON
If you talk bad about country, it’s like saying bad things about my Momma. Them’s fightin’ words. I think the thing that makes country music so popular is the same thing we loved about cowboy movies. The western movies. It’s like the natural heroes of the earth. There’s something about the horse, something about the land, something abut the honesty, something about the music. 1996 Not everbody has the gift of writing, but they do all have the gift of feeling. And I think that’s what’s so wonderful about music. Music speaks with the voice of the soul. 1993 I have different songs I love as a singer and as a writer. It’s like having a houseful of kids. You’re partial to all of them. 1993 “Coat of Many Colors” is a true story, and means more to me than any other song I’ve ever recorded. There were 12 children in our family and we were real poor. As far as money to buy clothes, all we had was what Mama made. I was about eight years old and it was my first year in a big public school. Somebody had sent her a box of scraps to make quilts out of and she took them and made me a little coat out of it. It hurt so bad when the kids laughed, because I was so proud of it. I especially liked the bright colors, and I thought I was the prettiest thing in school. 1996 I’m a very honest, open person. I think one of the reasons I’m a good boss is because you will always know what I’m athinkin’. I won’t pout at you or treat you bad. I’ll just say” Hey, Joe, there’s somethin’ that’s really been buggin’ the shit outa me.” Anybody that works with me will tell you that. 1993 I’m not offended by all the dumb-blonde jokes because I know that I’m not dumb. I also know that I’m not blonde. 1993
LINDA DAVIS
When I work my booth at Fan Fair and I see all of the people in line wanting my autograph, I then look around the room and see all the stars that I want to meet. If I wasn’t doing what I was doing, I’d be in line at the other booths.
LORETTA LYNN
When I write a song, I have to be alone. I’m another person. I live as this person until I have the song written. If it’s a honky-tonk girl, I put myself into becoming a honky-tonk girl. If anybody walked into that room when I was writin’, they may not even recognize me, ‘cause I take on another look. 1988 Different [Opry girls] started calling and saying I ought to return to the West Coast. One asked who I was sleeping with to get on the Opry so fast. It hurt so much I cried day and night. The girls called a party and invited Patsy Cline. They didn’t know me and Patsy was friends. Patsy called and told me to get my hair done. She bought me a new outfit and made me go. We went in there, and they didn’t say a word. That ended their plan. Patsy put the stamp of approval on me, and I never had any problems again. 1993 You know I don’t even like to be up on a stage, really. I like to be where I can look at ya. I don’t want to sing down to you. I want you to sing with me. If you really want to try something unusual, try passin’ out in front of five thousand people. 1993 I was a housewife and mother for 15 years before I was an entertainer. And it wasn’t like being a housewife today. I mean, it was hand laundry and cookin’ on an old coal stove. When I slow down I’ll do it again. 1993 The fans would come to the bus after the show, and they’d ask to talk to me. They felt I had the answer to their problems because my life was just like theirs. I ain’t Dear Abby. I had a few problems maybe they could have solved for me. 1993 I ain’t no star. A star is something up in the night sky. People say to me, “ You’re a legend.” I’m not a legend. I’m just a woman. Sometimes it’s like you’re a big pie settin’ on the table, and everybody runs up and gets their piece of you. When it’s over, the plate’s empty.
PATTY LOVELESS
A lot of women will probably think I’m crazy, but I enjoy just cleaning up around the house and getting my hands into things. It’s work for some, but I don’t look it as work, I look at it as somthing that’s helping me to ease my mind. 1994 Music is a way of communicating with the audience. If you can’t sign an autograph or shake a hand, or even just sit down in conversation and hear a story, at least maybe you can share a part of yourself through songs.1996
BARBARA MANDRELL
The bus is probably the most important instrument in country music. We were always a little mystified why 40 million people would watch Louise, Irlene, and me cavorting around onstage.
TAMMY WYNETTE
The sad part about happy endings is there’s nothing to write about. 1993 I didn’t like “Stand By Your Man.” I had no faith in that song at all. I think I should record another that I don’t like, and maybe that would do it. 1988 Show business sure beats the heck out of working in a beauty salon and picking cotton. 1996
TERRI CLARK
Women’s songs need to have the right tone, they can’t be man-bashing. Guys like the songs I sing as much as women do, even if they are song from a female perspective. You don’t want to alienate the male fan. 1996
WYNONA JUDD
Unfortunately New York City, some of the bigger cities, are still convinced that country is a little bit backwards. I work doubly hard to show that we are pretty intelligent and don’t just sit on bales of hay. 1996 Music saved my life. I’m just an emotional hurricane. If it wasn’t for music, I would have been one screwed-up kid. It gave me focus, it gave me something to do, to put all my energy into. When I hear an artist sing a song, I can tell if they mean it. You can tell when someone’s singing their brains out. 1996 People use your music as the backdrop for everyday life. They live to your music, they work to it, they fall in love to it. But it’s more than just attaching to the music. They attach to the person. 1994 People see someone famous and shy and they assume she’s snooty. But the truth is I was dying inside to be loved and wanted. 1996
NAOMI JUDD
We want to say to the people, “You’ve changed us, and I hope you see yourselves in us. Because you made us.” The fans have validated me. 1993 If the girls don’t sing, the boy’s don’t eat. 1993
PATSY CLINE
Talk about a hen out of a coop! I really felt like one{When I played Carnegie Hall}. I’m telling you! But you know what? We made em’ show their true colors. We brought country out of em’ if anybody did! They was sitting up there stomping their feet and yelling just like a bunch of hillbillies. Just like we do! I recorded a song called “I Fall To Pieces,” and I was in a car wreck. Now I’m really worried because I have a brand-new record, and it’s called “Crazy.” I don’t want to get rich, I just want to live good.
MEN OF COUNTRY!
KENNY ROGERS
There’s a new rock group every five minutes, but with country music, you have one hit and those people love you forever. 1980
RONNIE DUNN
Country music was like our family’s religion. Were country music fans first, and then we were Baptists. 1996 I want to perform for a good time, sure. But I want a lot more depth to go down than that. You can do that through the lyric content of your songs, through interviews, through the way you come off to the public. But I don’t want us to be just the proverbial shit-howdy show out here on the road. 1994 I remember one day not long ago I came home from a long road trip, and my three-year-old son asked my wife, “Mommy is he spending the night here tonight?” 1993 Don’t tell anybody, but this is fun. This is the job we’ve both dreamed about having our whole lives. Sometimes we’ll just break down and say to each other, “You know what, you can’t believe the amount of fun I’m having!” We don’t even want the public to know. They’d hate us, man! And to get paid for it too! Unbelieveable.
KIX BROOKS
On stage, you’re just pumped man. You can feel no pain. You could sprain an ankle out there and not even feel it. A lot nights I come off the stage with my hands all cut up, or I’ve knocked a hole in my head against my guitar or against somebody! It’s a wild adrenaline rush. 1993 A song lasts for so long, that’s a slow gratitude that you sip on. The live show is a shot of tequila! You get your bang for your buck. 1996 Like everyone says, it’s great to be nominated for awards. But while some people might not want to admit it, I will! I want to win! 1996 The kids are the ones who make the sacrifices. They pay the price for our stardom. 1993
MERLE HAGGARD
I’m a great nostalgist. That’s kind of my department, tendin’ to the roots of country music. And I’m doing everything I can to preserve what I know. 1996 It seems like music is about television. Used to be music was about music. Now, all you hear is a soundtrack of a video. The mood of the record used to carry the whole weight of the performance. 1995 I ask all the young ladies in the audience to give a holler, all by themselves. And then when they do, I tell them how much I appreciate it, even if I did have to ask for it. 1995 I started out even. It took me 30 years to get five million in debt. 1994
Some quotes are from “Twang: The ultimate Book of Country Music Quotations”. by Raymond Obstfeld and Sheila Burgener. Publishished by Henry Holt and Company in 1997.
If you have any cool quotes you'd like me to add feel free to email them toEmail: aday5@yahoo.com