We are here because there are things that need our help. Like the planet. Like each other. Like animals. The world is like a garden, and we are its protectors.

I've been married twice. Most women would rather not be married to a traveling blues singer

Nobody loves me but my mother, And she could be jivin' too.

If you want to be a good blues singer, people are going to be down on you, so dress like you're going to the bank to borrow money.

Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy's playing blues like we play, he's in high school. When he starts playing jazz it's like going on to college, to a school of higher learning.

I don't like anybody to be angry with me. I'd rather have friends.

I liked blues from the time my mother used to take me to church. I started to listen to gospel music, so I liked that. But I had an aunt at that time, my mother's aunt, who bought records by people like Lonnie Johnson, Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson and a few others.