Abigail Washburn Quotes

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Abigail Washburn

Profession : Musician

Birth : November 10, 1977

I would still describe China as a vast, invigorating puzzle that will never make sense to my western upbringing.

Abigail Washburn

I've moved around so much my whole life, and I've gotten so used to being the Other in situations - the foreigner, the outsider. The first time I've ever felt like there was no separation between me and the other elements was in music.

Abigail Washburn

As a child, I went to peace and ERA marches on the back of my mom and grandmother. Through them I learned that I wanted to find a way to make the world a more kind, compassionate place.

Abigail Washburn

For most Americans, my Chinese music feels like a novelty, and it's not what it is for me.

Abigail Washburn

I have a general sense of mission, and I intuitively know when something is influencing that mission. I think this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Doors keep opening. In the end, it's the best use of my skills. I've finally consented to the idea that I'm an artist.

Abigail Washburn

I really believe in the power of music.

Abigail Washburn

I believe in music because it has the power of change.

Abigail Washburn

You can enjoy many different types of music. I think that's something more Americans should think about.

Abigail Washburn

I'm no ethnomusicologist. There is a connection between the five-note scale used both in traditional Chinese music and the blues, but I don't really understand it. All I know is, whenever I play with Chinese musicians, we seem to belong to the same musical gene pool.

Abigail Washburn

One thing I carried my whole life, especially from my grandparents in Chicago, was a huge idealism for the world.

Abigail Washburn

I've noticed that the more I open up, the more I learn.

Abigail Washburn

Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech always sends me down some path, some trajectory of some creative idea.

Abigail Washburn

I sang in a reggae band. And then there was a soul band where I sang back-up vocals and some lead. And I was also in a women's a capella group. And I was in the gospel choir at school. Actually, I've always been in choirs. Or some kind of group. Just because I love singing so much. But I truthfully never thought of it as a career.

Abigail Washburn

My whole drive is to make sure that music is a common space where we search for beauty and share it. It needs to be louder than any conversation. That's where we have to go as a human race.

Abigail Washburn