For me there is something primitively soothing about this music, and it went straight to my nervous system, making me feel ten feet tall.

I have no problem with religion, and I grew up with a strong curiosity about spiritual matters, but my searching took me away from church and community worship to the internal journey. Before my recovery began, I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter.

My identity shifted when I got into recovery. That's who I am now, and it actually gives me greater pleasure to have that identity than to be a musician or anything else, because it keeps me in a manageable size. When I'm down on the ground with my disease-which I'm happy to have-it gets me in tune. It gives me a spiritual anchor. Don't ask me to explain.

The blues are what I've turned to, what has given me inspiration and relief in all the trials of my life.

Plant your love and let it grow.

All I am certain of right now is that I don't want to go anywhere, and that's not bad for someone who always used to run.

You were at school and you were pimply and no one wanted to know you. You get into a group and you've got thousands of chicks there.