In some ways, in the U.S. we don’t know how to be. I think in a lot of ways America is about liberation and about change and progressive human relations. And because of that, I feel like that we’re confused about who we’re supposed to be and what it is that’s supposed to satisfy us and make us feel fulfilled. Abigail Washburn Read Quote
One thing I carried my whole life, especially from my grandparents in Chicago, was a huge idealism for the world. Abigail Washburn Read Quote
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 Read Quote
In China, I realized that if you visit often enough and learn the language, you will be assimilated, but you’ll still be kept at arm’s length; you’ll always be looked on as a foreigner. Abigail Washburn Read Quote
Whenever I visited China in the past, the relationships always felt superficial; there was no time where I felt those moments of conflict and delight that make you feel close to another person. But since I started touring there in 2004, I would always collaborate with local musicians, and that opened up a new level of intimacy. Abigail Washburn Read Quote
You can enjoy many different types of music. I think that’s something more Americans should think about. Abigail Washburn Read Quote
I feel like my kind of music is a big pot of different spices. It’s a soup with all kinds of ingredients in it. Abigail Washburn Read Quote
I had no intention of becoming a performer, and yet under miraculous circumstances I was brought into the music industry fold. If divine powers hadn’t intervened, I’d still be living in China working in some area of Sino-American comparative law. Abigail Washburn Read Quote
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 Read Quote
Halo’ I wrote with my grandpa in his nursing home. When I went to visit him, he’d often comment on my halo. But of course, I couldn’t see. And he always – he had pictures of Jesus with these beautiful halos. And so I asked him if he’d write a song with me about Jesus’ halo. Abigail Washburn Read Quote
