Creativity Quote by Kathy Mattea

Excellence, Mattea implies, is expensive in a way the budget can’t capture: it costs you permanence. By framing turnover as the natural byproduct of “keeping the caliber…very high,” she quietly flips what fans often treat as scandal or dysfunction into a mark of artistic health. The band isn’t a family you cling to; it’s a proving ground. If the bar stays high, the people capable of meeting it are also the people most likely to outgrow the role.

The phrasing does a lot of diplomatic work. “People are going to come and go” is the language of weather, not betrayal. It absolves everyone at once: the departing musician isn’t disloyal, and the bandleader isn’t failing at retention. Even “have to try various things” is soft-edged, almost maternal, but there’s steel underneath. These are ambitious professionals, not interchangeable sidemen. High-level players are restless by design; they’re wired to chase new sounds, better gigs, and the creative oxygen that comes from not staying in one orbit too long.

In the broader context of touring bands and country/Americana ecosystems, Mattea is also protecting the legitimacy of the ensemble. Constant personnel changes can read as instability. She reframes it as circulation in a talent economy where the best musicians treat collaboration as a chapter, not a lifetime contract. The subtext is a quiet standard: if you want a band that never changes, don’t demand one that’s great.