I like parlor songs, the ones that found their way into the country tradition. I'm looking for things that have some personal connection, some sentiment and message, and that can be related to the melody. I think people are afraid of sentiment these days. They like it when someone else gets up there and expresses it, but they're afraid of it themselves. Over the years, Blake has seen popular interest in old-time music come and go.
People are very tired of what's passing for country music anymore.
I think people like good old-time string music, if they get half a chance to hear it. They just never get a chance. One of the wildest things about this whole O Brother thing is not only the interest that it's stirred up in old-time music but the fact that so much of it is of a religious nature. They said that radio stations have been playing my recorded version of 'You Are My Sunshine' every morning during the traffic in New York City. Even after 50 years of playing old-time country, Blake hasn't exhausted the pleasures he finds there, and he has never given a thought to playing anything else or to complicating the simple grace of his sound.