I was messing around with the harmonica... but I was 13 before I got a real good note out of it.

Of course that was my idol, Son House. I think he did a lot for the Mississippi slide down there.

Man, you don't know how I felt that afternoon when I heard that VOICE and it was my own VOICE.

The blues had a baby and they called it rock and roll.

He took my music, but he gave me my name.

The blacks have their parties, hustle a little liquor, get some things together, and I used to play for those peoples. They'd come get me on time, but they wouldn't bring me back on time... Done picked cotton all day, play all night long, then pick cotton all day the next day before I could get a chance to sleep.

Robert Johnson? No, I didn't know him, personally.