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.

Religion began as a natural explanation of the universe. The problem started when people refused to accept new evidence.

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.

My mother was a very beautiful lady, I thought. She was very good to me. I guess - she died when I was nine and a half, but if she had lived I probably wouldn't be trying to play guitar. She wanted me to be known, but as something else. Not a guitar player.

And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die.

Sometimes the proprietors of the little juke joints gave me a couple dollars. I loved that. I'd go back next Saturday.

Singing about your sadness unburdens your soul. But the blues hollers shouted about more than being sad. They were also delivering messages in musical code. If the master was coming, you might sing a hidden warning to the other field hands . . . The blues could warn you what was coming. I could see the blues was about survival.