I think that, with anything creative, you should have the freedom to experiment, and that experimentation means not feeling totally responsible for how other people perceive it. Conor Oberst Read Quote
Art is basically communication, and I think everyone who’s a music lover has had that experience where a record or a recording has kept you company when no one else is around. And I think that is what I’m hoping that people get out of my music. Conor Oberst Read Quote
My family is Catholic. I went to a Catholic school, that kind of thing, so that was my childhood for sure. Conor Oberst Read Quote
I have a lot of friends that take that position of extreme cynicism, and I just can’t let myself go to that place. It’s just too easy, and it’s just too defeatist. Conor Oberst Read Quote
I don’t really premeditate what I write my songs about; you know, they just kind of happen, and I can’t start writing songs to please a certain group of people or propagate a certain message all the time. That’s just not how my songwriting works – it just sort of comes out, and the songs are what they are. Conor Oberst Read Quote
Sometimes I daydream about having a farm and a wife and some babies and watching the grass grow, but you have to meet the right person for that. Conor Oberst Read Quote
When I try to explain to people the big influences in my life, or at least when I first started, the most important ones were my friends who were also writing songs and were typically four or five years older than me. Conor Oberst Read Quote
Although Omaha is my birthplace and the place I grew up, I don’t see myself spending extended amounts of time there. I feel almost more comfortable and more at peace in New York. Conor Oberst Read Quote
I have a terrible memory in general, but one thing I’ve always been able to remember is my songs. Conor Oberst Read Quote
I kind of go in waves with reading. Sometimes I read all the time, and sometimes I can’t get settled enough to focus. Conor Oberst Read Quote
