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When I was young, I wanted to be the greatest blues singer of all time. I wrecked my education and left home for it.

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

Yeah; I'm a much better blues player than anybody knows, but being in the kind of group I'm in, we were always trying to make popular records.

I was always a closet blues player.

I liked blues from the time my mother used to take me to church. I started to listen to gospel music, so I liked that. But I had an aunt at that time, my mother's aunt who bought records by people like Lonnie Johnson, Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and a few others.

I started singing on the radio in Los Angeles. I sang blues, but I would tend toward country blues.

I never wanted to be like other blues singers. I might like hearing them play, but I've never wanted to be anyone other than myself. There are a few people that I've wished I could play like, but when I tried, it didn't work.