A lot of times I say to myself, "I wished I could be worthy of all the compliments that people give me sometimes." I'm not inventing anything that's going to stop cancer or muscular dystrophy or anything, but I like to feel that my time and talent is always there for the people that need it. When someone do say something negative, most times I think about it, but it don't bother me that much.

There's a sadness to all kinds of music if you want to hear it. There's also happiness to it if you want to hear it.

If you can't get your songs to people one way, you have to find another.

I don't try to just be a blues singer - I try to be an entertainer. That has kept me going.

It just seemed to me that the way I played was nice. I could hear it myself.

I'm self-taught. But I finally learned that they was having little shows or night dances or whatever you call them at little juke joints not far from where I lived, and I used to go there. They wouldn't let me play inside, but I could sit outside on the weekends, when it wasn't raining or something.

Water from the white fountain didn't taste any better than from the black fountain.