“By the age of nine or ten, I knew that I loved history and writing. It...” — Hampton Sides Quote

By the age of nine or ten, I knew that I loved history and writing. It got hold of me and never turned loose.

The thing about Memphis is that it's pleasingly off-kilter. It's a great big whack job of a city. The anti-Atlanta. You go there, and you can't believe the things people will say, the way they think, the wobbling orbits of their lives. There's an essential otherness.

When the Americans were trying to conquer the Navajos, they felt this need to capture Canyon de Chelly like it was the Navajo capital. It was a meeting place and a sanctuary of last refuge. To control Canyon de Chelly was to control the Navajo people.

I love Memphis, I guess you could say, in the way that you love a brother even if he does sometimes puzzle and sadden and frustrate you. Say what you want about it, it's an authentic place. I was born and raised in Memphis, and no matter where I go, Memphis belongs to me, and I to it.

I've always been working with my rehab people, just to keep my body loose and fluid.

I've always related music to those moments when someone turns you loose on something and they haven't told you how to do it.

I like to get the blood flowing and get as loose as I can possibly get. It's not very difficult to hurt yourself out there if you aren't prepared, especially in a Fatal Four Way.

I'm getting my confidence and momentum, and I'm playing free and playing loose.

If you can't relax, you can't play well; on the pitch you need to keep loose.