Creativity Quote by Brian Setzer

Setzer is sneaking a practical lesson about imitation into what sounds like backstage trash talk: distinctiveness can be a shield, while “normal” can be a trap. Elvis is a silhouette; his voice is an instantly readable caricature. If you aim for Elvis and miss, you still land somewhere in the neighborhood of “rock-and-roll guy doing an Elvis thing.” The audience gets the reference, and the performance can ride that shared cultural shorthand.

Johnny Cash is harder because his power isn’t mainly in a vocal gimmick. Cash’s voice is deceptively plain: low, steady, unshowy, built on restraint. That means the “Cash-ness” lives in micro-choices - phrasing, economy, the moral authority of someone who sounds like he’s seen the inside of the story. Copying that without the life behind it exposes the artifice. You don’t sound like Cash; you sound like a person wearing seriousness as a costume. Hence “dumb”: not stupid as in incompetent, but cringe as in unearned.

The subtext is Setzer defending authenticity without romanticizing it. In roots music, homage is currency, but the genre also punishes cosplay. Elvis has become mythology, which makes him easier to echo; Cash still reads as a person, which makes mimicry feel invasive. Setzer’s broader context - rockabilly revivalist with deep respect for lineage - matters here: he’s drawing a line between stylistic borrowing (fine) and trying to borrow someone’s gravitas (impossible). The real advice is blunt: steal the mechanics, not the soul.