I was a guitar player first off.

My earliest influences were things I heard in my household.

My songwriting and my style became more complex as I listened, learned, borrowed and stole and put my music together.

A lot of what I have always done is do other singers.

From the time I moved to San Francisco in 1967 to play with the Steve Miller Band, there was a lot of support in the music community for one cause or another, but this one was special because it was put on by people who understood where musicians hearts are.

I think the women - Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu - are doing new conceptual things and using their voices to create new American music.

I am not a jazz singer. I wouldn't place myself on that footing. I wouldn't even enter that arena.