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I used to be a great blues singer.

I don't try to just be a blues singer - I try to be an entertainer. That has kept me going.

Hearing the blues changed my life.

I'm certain that it was an incredible gift for me to not only be friends with some of the greatest blues people who've ever lived, but to learn how they played, how they sang, how they lived their lives, ran their marriages, and talked to their kids.

When I began my career, I was constantly referred to as the kid who could play the blues.

I would think, to me, growing up in the south, growing up with all the gospel music, singing in the church and having that rhythm and blues - the blues background was my big inspiration.

When I got out of high school, I was in a blues band. It was the kind of music I was interested in, and listening to, mostly because it was becoming a vehicle for a generation of guitarists - like Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. Mike Bloomfield. And that's what I wanted to be, principally: a guitar player.

I wanted to be a blues guitar player. And a singer. And a songwriter. Not a shock jock.

I been in the blues all my life. I'm still delivering 'cause I got a long memory.