Mark O'Connor Quotations

Never. They're giving me competitors. I see no reason to sell their products.

He was one of the greatest, most creative fiddlers in country and bluegrass music history.

I think that's been part of my success, that my music looks forward while looking backward.

Thank God he was in such good shape before, or he never would have made it.

The music is addictive, ... When it's going well, you feel like you're hitting home runs all night.

Also, ... Grappelli didn't start playing jazz until he was an adult, so you hear how he molded (his influences) into the jazz setting.

This music is really addictive. I can get into the swing and never want to leave. I think audiences will feel something similar.

In the last couple of years, England has had a real problem with American culture. Looking back, people were looking to vent. They were going to vent to anybody they felt was carrying the American flag. And I carry the flag. But I carry it musically.

I don't recall having, in recent memory, anything remotely resembling this kind of an event where the need is to bring back a group of people dispersed by a calamity. It signifies not only a healing for their symphony and what they've worked for. It also represents the larger community of New Orleans musicians. That's exactly what people there are wanting to do. They want to put their community back together. And that community needs to heal with what the arts can give the heart and soul.

I have no doubt that most people who listen to Alison Krauss and say they like bluegrass have never heard real bluegrass played in the traditional manner, and probably don't even know who Bill Monroe is.

Knowledge is after all a non-rivalrous good

Musicians coming together at a time of need is one of the great traditions in this country. It's like people taking charge.