Pianists From The United States

"It seemed to be a natural period when I wanted to stop doing pop records; it came with a falling-out between my record company and me...There was a hole in my career. Instead of a valley, it became a peak to me. I decided I was going to do something that I hadn’t really had time to do."

"[If he feels disconnected from black millennials]: I've met people like him before and have had confrontations with people like him before, not many. A Klansman hates a white person who 'sells out', so to speak, more so than they hate a black person. Just like the young boy hated me more than he hated some white guy, because he felt that I've sold out my own race. He was very definite that white people could not change. How is he going to advance any agenda in this country, as diverse as it is?"

"Davis: My end goal is to bring people together. Bring white supremacists together with their nemesis. Unless we learn how to get along with one another, this country is about to..."

"When I first began interviewing Klan members, oftentimes they would answer the question but they wouldn't turn around and say 'What do you think?' They felt i was inferior. I had nothing to offer in terms of my opinion. But then over time, as the relationship develops, slowly but surely they began asking me questions. That was the first clue that the tide was turning. 'Oh, all of a sudden my opinion matters? Let's see where this is going.'"

"If you have an adversary, someone with an opposing point of view, regardless of how extreme it may be, and believe me I've heard things that cut me to the bone, but give that person a platform. Allow them to air their views. And when you do things like that there is an excellent chance that people will reciprocate."

"[On his collection of Ku Klux Klan robes and memorabilia]: People always say to me 'Daryl, how can you have this stuff? Why don't you burn it?' Well, no. As shameful as it is, this is a part of American history. You don't burn our history regardless. The good, the bad, the ugly. And the Ku Klux Klan is as American as baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet."

"I would hope that by the time I'm gone, things like this will not be as prevalent. But if they are, perhaps this film will encourage others to do the same and do a better job that I've been able to do."

"The lesson learned is: ignorance breeds fear. If you don't keep that fear in check, that fear will breed hatred. If you don't keep hatred in check, it will breed destruction."

"I never sat out to convert anybody. I just set out to get that answer to my question: 'How can you hate me if you don't even know me?' And in my quest to have that answered, they couldn't answer it. And some of them ended up converting themselves."

"I am a musician, not a psychologist or sociologist. If I can do that, anybody in here can do that. Take the time to sit down and talk with your adversaries. You will learn something and they will learn something from you. When two enemies are talking, they are not fighting. They are talking. It's when the talking ceases that the ground becomes fertile for violence. So keep the conversation going."

"Kwame Rose: Why do I have to get along with them?"

"How can you hate me when you don't even know me? Throughout my life, I've been looking for an answer to that. Well, who better to ask than someone who would join an organization whose whole premise is hating people who do not look like them? So I began seeking out members of the Ku Klux Klan."

"[On why he prefers to meet Ku Klux Klan members face to face]: They can't know the real me through e-mail or through Facebook. Just sitting across from somebody, meeting somebody, getting that sense of them, that's the key right there."

"Davis: Because they are our fellow Americans. We all have to live in this country together. We do. Otherwise we're going to end up self-destructing."

"What I have come to find to be the greatest and most effective and successful weapon that we can use, known to man, to combat such adversaries as ignorance, racism, hatred, violence, is also the least expensive weapon, and the one that is the least used by Americans. That weapon is called communication."

"Let's say you and 20 other people have this group that is anti-racist and all you do is talk about how bad racism is. What good is that group doing? All you do is preaching to the choir. If you and I agree, I'm not accomplishing anything by trying to convince you of what you already know. The way you resolve that is you invite somebody to the table who disagrees with you so you understand why they have that point of view. Then, perhaps, you will figure out a solution to disuade their fears."

"Always keep the lines of communication open with your adversaries regardless of what the topic is. When two enemies are talking they are not fighting. They might be yelling and screaming and shouting an beating their fists on the table, but at least they're talking. They're not fighting."

"I grew up in the age of Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson … It was a time where a fat, ugly broad that could sing had value. Now everything is about image. It’s not poetry. This just isn’t my time."

"What few songs I wrote during my brief career, there ain’t a genre that somebody didn’t record them in. I’m not a virtuoso, but I was able to write songs that people could identify with. I don’t think I’ve done bad for a guy from Slab Fork, West Virginia."

"Sometimes in our lives we all have pain We all have sorrow But if we are wise We know that there's always tomorrow."

"My first goal was, I didn’t want to be a cook or a steward … So I went to aircraft-mechanic school. I still had to prove to people that thought I was genetically inferior that I wasn’t too stupid to drain the oil out of an airplane."

"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone It's not warm when she's away Ain't no sunshine when she's gone And she's always gone too long Anytime she's goes away"

"And I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know I know Hey I oughta leave the young thing alone But ain't no sunshine when she's gone."

"Lean on me, when you're not strong And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on For it won't be long 'Til I'm gonna need Somebody to lean on."

"I know what it is to go over the same songs over and over again, and to try to make them perfect. It’s interesting and it’s hard and it’s difficult at the same time…You have to stay on top of things."

"To be moved, to be moved constantly by your own songs. You need it to be in tune with them, and I don’t mean in tune musically, but I mean in tune with the lyrics of the songs, with the words of the songs, and with the meaning. You need to be in tune with all of that, and that takes a little bit of doing."

"I sang it about soldiers, then, later, about gay men. It touches me deeply every time. I used to perform this song at Mr Henry’s and people would be totally silent. I knew it moved them."

"I didn’t try to be a soul singer, a jazz singer, a blues singer – no category…My music is my expression of what I feel and believe in a moment."

"I hope that one day we will be seen for the people we are, not for our race, gender, age or nationality."

"The eyes of love are watching you As you go from day to day The hands of love will catch you When you fall along the way My arms will hold and be with you Your whole life through 'Cause I am love And I'm in love with you."

"I pretended I was Cat Stevens. I started out with very Cat Stevensy chords, very abrupt. I was so stuck in the moment of being fearful so as a lesson to myself I said: ‘but we can never know about the days to come’. I didn’t know when the door-bell was going to ring. I liked that. It was all of a sudden a quarter to eight and I had written the whole song."

"I think of that time a lot…It’s part of my blood, my bones, all the liquid in my body. I’ve just taken him in so he’s in my core."

"Fear came in so much in my life that it did everything but completely stop me. When I was a little girl, I so wanted to be sociable, but I was scared that I wasn't going to be able to speak a sentence because I had such a bad stammer..."

"You know, that's so much a part of life, being able to embrace the broken heart, not just cast it off as having no meaning or trying to get rid of it. I think in the book gives a very good journey through the way I handled things that were desperately frightening for me."

"…I would say it's not not about Warren Beatty. But I can't understand why there's been such intense interest about this over the years and I don't really want to play into that. To me, it's not an issue. It's a kind of a fun riddle."

"I grew up with lots of mystery in my house…I was always feeling on shaky ground when I was growing up. I didn’t know what was what, and that led me to feel very insecure."

"Music brought me closer to the idea of God…Music gave me the energy to revise, revive myself; renew, rebirth myself. It was a palliative, a relief."

"The time I enjoy music most is when it’s not a performance. It’s just trading instrumentals and finding that part in the song that you feel best singing."

"He was searching Blindly night and day This life, there must be more Breaking beauty, Just to stay awake His heart was like a stone"

"And on the last day He walked out in the sun He only just discovered the sun On the last day And on the last day When all his work was done He only just discovered the sun On the last day All this rapture Right here all along In scraps he tore away All this color In his final breath Exhaled the dark and gray"

"I don't play this work as a tour de force, as a dazzling display of technique--I play it as a life experience."

"If you were there behind every family's closed doors, everyone's a little wacko. Chances are that your family is no weirder than the next family, or than the other girl at school's family. Everyone can be quirky at times, and I embrace that, personally."

"The better you know your character, the more naturally it comes. But at the same time I don’t know that I ever want it to be easy, because the minute it gets easy I think I get too comfortable. And so I always am trying to search for what I can do to make my performance better"

"It was 1989, my thoughts were short, my hair was long, Caught somewhere between a boy and man. She was seventeen and she was far from in-between. It was summertime in Northern Michigan."

"And we were trying different things, We were smoking funny things, Making love out by the lake to our favorite song. Sipping whiskey out the bottle, not thinking 'bout tomorrow, Singing "Sweet Home Alabama" all summer long. Singing "Sweet Home Alabama" all summer long."

"For the time bombs ticking and the heads they hang, All the gangs gettin' money and the heads they bang - bang. Wild mustangs, the porno flicks, All my homies in the county in cell block six. The grits when there ain't enough eggs to cook, And to D.B. Cooper and the money he took. You can look for answers but that ain't fun, Now get in the pit and try to love someone."

"And now these days when I drive through a small town, I turn my stereo up and roll my windows down. ’Cause it reminds me of my first kiss And those days that I always miss. Tom Petty on the radio, Going steady with nowhere to go. No money, just time to spend, An old Chevy and a couple friends. Oh how I wish that I could go back in time Just to love you again."

"Well I'm packin' up my game and I'mma head out west Where real women come equipped with scripts and fake breasts. Find a nest in the Hills, chill like Flynt, Buy an old drop-top find a spot to pimp. And I'mma Kid Rock it up and down ya' block With a bottle of scotch and watch lots a crotch. Buy a yacht with a flag sayin' "Chillin' the Most", Then rock that bitch up and down the coast. Give a toast to the sun, drink with the stars, Get thrown in the mix and get tossed outta bars."

"I called you last night in the hotel; Everyone knows, but they won't tell. But their half-hearted smiles tell me something just ain't right. I've been waiting on you for a long time, Fuelin' up on heartaches and cheap wine. I ain't heard from you in three damn nights."

"And when the sunshine showed Her face I felt like I was ready to die. Went lookin' for a place to hide, A hole I could crawl inside. Long lines, Whiskey bottles, And the same old song. I smell death in the air And I know it won't be long."