I can play every instrument there is, every horn, I've played all the saxes and trumpets and everything and keyboards.

My philosophy is the thicker the wood the thicker the sound, the bigger the string the bigger the sound. My smallest string is a 14 gauge.

I grew a love for helpless, defenseless things. People would give me lions and jaguars. I had cheetahs, monkeys.

When I start playing I'm just a rollercoaster of sound. I don't know what's coming next, I never do, and I sit and sign and talk to the people afterwards.

My uncle gave me a trumpet, but I loved the Louis Armstrong sound and the Harry James sound and I played by ear and I played always soulful or very direct from the gut.

I met Leo Fender, who is the guru of all amplifiers, and he gave me a Stratocaster. He became a second father to me.

I'm constantly being influenced by the soul that's directly in front of me.