There are so many sounds I still want to make, so many things I haven't yet done.

When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.

I think of guitar players in terms of doctors: you have the doctor for your heart, the cardiologist, then one that works on your feet, your leg. But I believe George Benson is the one that plays all over. To me, he would be the M.D. of them all.

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.

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

I call myself a blues singer, but you ain't never heard me call myself a blues guitar man.

No one can take it away from you.