Art & Creativity Quote by Steve Forbert

There is something almost disarmingly plain about Steve Forbert’s line, and that’s the point: it refuses the inflated mythology of the “visionary artist” while quietly insisting on the work. “I just play” reads like a shrug, but it’s also a philosophy - a way of staying loyal to the most basic unit of a musician’s life: hands on an instrument, time in a room, noise becoming pattern. The humility is strategic. It signals craft over branding, process over pronouncement.

The second clause does the heavier lifting. “Always trying” turns songwriting into a permanent state rather than a finished credential. It suggests restlessness without melodrama: not “I write songs” (a claim), but “I’m trying to write songs” (a practice, an ongoing bet against failure). Forbert came up in a late-70s moment when singer-songwriters were being sorted into market-friendly archetypes - confessional poet, heartland rocker, punk truth-teller. This sentence sidesteps all of it. It’s a musician protecting the fragile part of the job from the public story that inevitably calcifies around him.

The subtext is also a quiet protest against outcome culture. You can’t schedule inspiration, but you can schedule playing. Forbert frames creativity as momentum: keep moving, keep listening, keep drafting. The intent isn’t to sound modest; it’s to stay free. By lowering the stakes, he keeps the door open for the next song to arrive.