My big ears indicated a talent for music. This thrilled me.

My big ears indicated a talent for music. This thrilled me.

With a guitar I would be able to express the things I felt in sounds.

I think America concedes that true American music has sprung from the Negro.

You've got to appreciate the things that come from the art of the Negro and from the heart of the man farthest down.

The name of my ailment was longing, and it was not cured till I finally went to the department store and counted out the money in small coins before the dismayed clerk. When I came to the house, I held up the instrument before the eyes of the astonished household.

The blues - the sound of a sinner on revival day.