Gospel music was the thing that inspired me as a child growing up on a cotton farm, where work was drudgery and it was so hard that when I was in the field I sang all the time. Usually gospel songs because they lifted me up above that black dirt.

I read novels but I also read the Bible. And study it, you know? And the more I learn, the more excited I get.

I'm thankful for the sea breeze that feels so good right now, and the scent of jasmine when the sun starts going down.

Help me, Jesus. I know what I am.

When I hear that whistle blowing, I hang my head and cry.

I'm so uncomfortable wearing colors in public. I really am. Even denim. If I've got a day off in a town, I want to go out for a walk I'll put on denim. But almost everything I've got the black on.

I kept talking to my producers at Columbia about recording one of those [prison] shows. So we went into Folsom on February 11, 1968, and recorded a show live.