And as I started reaching deeper I realized that most of the blues of that day was done by men. Women just didn't have the nerve.

That's where it begins and ends for me and these songs were the ones that touched me the deepest. It was like I was laying hold of some part of me that I didn't even know was there until I let it out.

When I'm singing the blues, I'm singing life.

To me, country music is like the blues, but it's something very hip and - I don't want to say commercial - but it's very worldly and good listening.

People that can't stand to listen to the blues, they've got to be phonies.

You can't fake this music. You might be a great singer or a great musician but, in the need, that's got nothing to do with it. It's how you connect to the songs and to the history behind them.

All the things I used to like - cookies, ice cream, gumbo - I don't like anymore.