You are most certainly the inspiration for all of today's rock 'n' roll guitarists. Your music is timeless.

I've been speaking at churches for years, as well as juvenile jails, rehabs and hospitals, and I always talk about my faith. That is a declaration of my relationship with God

We're all going to be victims of temptation at several points in our lives.

If I hear one of my songs by anybody, it's a dream come true every time for me as a songwriter, because I want to write a song, I want to write a song that the world can sing and will always sing.

My uncle Claude was my favorite uncle he was also my godfather. He and I were really, really close. He used to take me to see cowboy movies all the time when I was a little boy because I loved cowboy movies. He got a cowboy name for me, which was Smokey Joe. So from the time I was three years old if people asked me what my name was I didn't tell them my name was William, I told them my name was Smokey Joe.

If you feel like loving me, if you've got the notion, I second that emotion.

I don't ever balk at being considered a Motown person, because Motown is the greatest musical event that ever happened in the history of music