In those days, between the ages of 12 and 18 you meant nothing. You were the extra place at the side table if someone came to dinner. You were of no interest to anyone.

I must have been heavily schizophrenic all my life. The me who hears what the other me can't play is the dominant one.

Blues and jazz pulled me away from what was left of my family.

In those days, between the ages of 12 and 18 you meant nothing. You were the extra place at the side table if someone came to dinner. You were of no interest to anyone.

I wanted to be able to play guitar. I wanted to be able to make music hurt.

Since the age of 12, all my musical thinking has been influenced by Afro-American music.

I had always intended to make a living out of playing blues. But I never admitted it to myself. I don't suppose I could have given a logical reason for it ever becoming possible to do so.