I don't have a genre because I play lots of different music that people would say are different genres.

To learn the history of the banjo is to recover the actual history of America.

African-American history is American history.

There are people who have incredible stories that we don't talk about. People who did amazing things, men and women who faced incredible odds, and there's nothing wrong with them being heroes for once, you know?

It's really funny how I've come round to classical music around the back door with my banjo in my hand, and I love it.

Ibn Said's autobiography is an extraordinary work, and his story is one that's absolutely crucial to tell.

I kind of have found my identity through the music, through the roots music of North Carolina, and kind of realized that that's my identity as a North Carolinian.

The truth, the real history, is way more interesting and representative of what America actually is.

The best part of a MacArthur is having some pressure taken off from touring relentlessly.

I would be thrilled with anybody who cites my work as something that inspired them.

Nobody can know what their legacy is going to be, you know?

The question is not how do we get diversity into bluegrass, but how do we get diversity back into bluegrass?

What's really interesting to me is to have a connection to what was going on in the past, but to make it a living thing.

It's not about me, it's about the music. I don't do this because I want to be a star. I don't do this because I want to make a lot of money.

We have to talk about the negativity, but we have to enjoy the beauty of what this country, culturally, has done.

I'm still black in the eyes of America.

I like Queen Latifah.

Every song has a heart, and I just go for that.

Each song has its own way that it likes to be done, but it can be more than one way. If you tap into it, you can feel it.

At some point you have to take responsibility for who you are and where you are and being able to listen to other points of view, whichever side of the tracks you're on.

You know, I really feel a responsibility to the music, and I teach workshops in music sometimes. And folks do come to me and they go, 'How do I make this blues song my own? How do I feel like I'm not an impostor doing this?' And I'm like, 'That's an excellent question.' That's where you should start, where you go, 'How does this speak to me?'

I'm very proud that I can now share my story and people can get inspired off of that.

I have been influenced by music. I grew up listening to blues, jazz and all.

'The X Factor' is like music camp. It's invaluable what in a short amount of time 'The X Factor' can do to an artist and a person's career. It can make them a superstar overnight.