In spite of the Depression, or maybe because of it, folks were hungry for a good time, and an evening of dancing seemed a good way to have it.

Night after night I could feel the chills go up and down my spine, they played so well.

I like clean ladies and nice ladies.

It's curious how we act in moments of personal despair.

Music was my joy, my home, the one place I felt happy and secure.

By 1969, when I celebrated 45 years in the music business, I also had 45 people in our musical family.

I realized some of the pitfalls of being well-known; it was nice if you were successful, but it made it just that much harder to take when you failed.