"Music is ingrained in the culture of New Orleans more deeply than in other cities.  The traditions are practiced and upheld with a reverence, dedication and honesty that can’t be found elsewhere."

Collins Kirby:

New Orleans Cigar Box Guitar Festival

The 8th annual New Orleans Cigar Box…

"Everything affects everything around it, I think that's the nature of physics. A great piece of music will have a specific, if initially intangible, effect on anyone who hears it and it stands a chance to affect that individual's future actions for the greater good. Sometimes, it actually does this."

Mike Keneally: The Thing That Knowledge Can’t Eat…

"Music teaches people how to express their feelings when words are not enough. My musical path and career have taught me and is still teaching me how to interact and deal with other musicians and other people in life. The most important lesson that I’ve earned from my experience in music though is to stay true in what I want to be."

Dennis Pol: Guitarology…

"It is striking to discover how close Music is to us at all times. All it takes is a willingness to listen. To embrace the sound of listening. It is easy to forget, but I am luckily reminded again and again. To quote Robert Fripp, “Music is a benevolent presence constantly and readily available to all.” "

Alex Anthony Faide: Echo of the…

"I feel our society is becoming more divided. A lot of the social tension we are experiencing comes from people trying to defend their views, that are rooted in their identity. However, if you think about it, many aspects that we perceive to be defining our identity such as the color of our skin, our gender, the time and place we are born and even the people that we meet during our journey are not under our control."…

"It is a touching of the soul, breaking barriers and communicating the special and important things that words can often not express. I would like to think that I can remind them of their spirituality and the innate qualities of sensitivity that modern life and smart phones/screens can distract us from."

Will Johns: Bluesdaddy Top Cream

Striking a…

"I think that music has lost a big part of its value for the younger generation, they still love music, and it has still an important role in their lives, but everything is so easily accessible via internet."

Søren Jordan: Blues, Rock & Beyond...

German-born Søren Jordan is a known and versatile guitar player, working as live-and studio…

"Music should not be available for free! Spotify for example should pay at least 1 cent per stream. If that doesn’t change, most of us will not be able to produce further records. The record business is down so there has to be a solution for this. Streaming is fine but there has to be a proper payment for the artists - They are the main reason that people can listen to cool music-not the companies!!"…

"Music’s impact on anything, is to connect us to the essential nature of ourselves; our freedom; our unique sovereignty as Human Beings. True love, is the ultimate ‘revolutionary’ act/choice. Unconditional love."

Brandon Ross: Global Music Roots

Brandon Ross is an American avant-jazz guitarist, composer, band leader, vocalist, and…

"I believe music has the power to uplift the spirit and that’s the energy I want to impart. There is a little part toward the end of the title song “Sundial” that everybody I’ve played it for smiles when they hear it. It’s a combination of the background vocals swelling up against the major chord and the lead vocal… I live for that!"

Carl Verheyen: The Joy of Music…

"I miss the impulsivity, the “live” energy, the attention to detail, the ability to choke interesting and different sounds out of analog instruments, and the childlike nature that we used to have about musical curiosity and the freedom that came with the Blues, Jazz, and other truly American musical art forms. My hope for the future is that the Blues will thrive in ways that is yet to be seen…that it will be magnified to the fullness of glory and that I…

"Futuristic music drew me because it broke the rules and made me think outside of the box. I believe in the use of technology in music however I never want us to reach a point where AI takes over and music is composed by computers. As I said before, I believe that music is the perfect combination of emotions and maths – computers can provide the maths but they can’t provide the emotions!"

Okan Ersan:…

"Music, like every art, needs to make people think, laugh and most importantly: feel! Music and musicians are the perfect representation of community, respect, diversity and even while we're still competing! Sound also has an ambiguous nature that allows for the listener's personal perspective to filter and be a part of the creative process...if the musicians play in artful way. We all have an Orpheus complex. It is my hope that our example can affect…

"Music is the most powerful form of magic and has the power to change people. And people can change things... The problem is how the right music finds the right people and the fact that there is way too much information, and nobody can deal with all this flow... We are drowning in meaningless stuff and missing on important stuff that could change things... From that chaos the culture is being destroyed because it is falling to reach the right…

"Of course, I want music and jazz especially to have a positive and uplifting effect on people. As jazz was initially created in the Afro-American community, as such, it was has had a positive social impact on acknowledging this importance of this culture."

John Stowell: A True Jazz Musician

John Stowell is a unique jazz guitarist influenced as…

"I would like the music styles to be less segregated, more mixed up. Radio stations, music programs should play a wider variety of music, not be so specialized to one narrowly defined genre."

Nils Jiptner: Caught In The Groove

Guitar virtuoso Nils (Jiptner) has been one of the most successful forces in the Contemporary Jazz genre.…

"Humans are social creatures, and musicians are human beings (at least I think they are), so especially when they are playing with and for other people, music is a social act."

Susan Alcorn: The Words of Music

One of the world’s premiere exponents of her instrument, Susan Alcorn has taken the pedal steel guitar far beyond its traditional role in…

"We know it’s impacted world culture in many ways. So much music is inspired by jazz even if it doesn’t sound like jazz and because it was born from the African-American experience which was couched in racism and civil unrest, it will always carry with it a deep concern for diplomacy and human dignity. With instrumental music it’s not as easy to convey a message but I hope listeners feel something emotional and real when hearing my…

"The Blues as we know it came out of the cotton fields of the Deep South of the US. It was born out of a clash of cultures and gave the poor a voice. Suddenly, people who had previously been unheard now had a voice and were singing about everyday things, instead of only about God."

Nigel McTrustry: Blues In The Box

Brisbane-based musician Nigel…

"Blues and especially jazz were pivotal in breaking down the color line and overcoming prejudice in this country. Rock played that role to a lesser degree, but it still was important in introducing white audiences to black musical forms."

David Dann: The King & His Blues Life

David Dann’s book “Guitar King: Michael Bloomfield's Life in the…