Education is the one thing that no one can take from you.

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.

Education is the one thing that no one can take from you.

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

I don’t like to feel that I owe anything. I like to feel that I pay my own way, no free lunch.

Being a blues singer is like being black two times.

Charlie Christian had no more impact on my playing than Django Reinhardt or Lonnie Johnson. I just wanted to play like him. I wanted to play like all of them. All of these people were important to me. I couldn't play like any of them, though.