Ragtime has about the same amount of respect as comics. And in a way they're similar art forms. Ragtime is highly compositional and the emotion in the music is built in whereas in jazz a lot of that emotion comes from the way it's performed.
I've always loved music but I never really played anything. After 'Walk the Line' and learning to play guitar and having that sense of performing I think that certainly opened the door for me for music.
