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If they played more blues, people would just get it - they try to hold it back but just about can't hold it back now because the blues is really going.

I have as much input to the blues; I just never got the chance, the opportunity or maybe the respect.

They don't bother too much with the balance and things on blues records.

When all the original blues guys are gone, you start to realize that someone has to tend to the tradition. I recognize that I have some responsibility to keep the music alive, and it's a pretty honorable position to be in.

The blues echoes right through into soul, R&B and hip hop. It's part of the make-up of modern music. You can't turn your back on the blues.

The blues are like the fugue in 18th century. It's probably the music that belongs most to our time.

The one thing the blues don't get is the backing and pushing of TV and radio like a lot of this garbage you hears. They choke stuff down people's throat so they got no choice but to listen to it.

There were times I thought I was going to turn to the blues, but then I'd hear better blues players.

The blues is not the creation of a crushed-spirited people. It is the product of a forward-looking, upward-striving people.

I think it was that we were really seasoned musicians. We had serious roots that spanned different cultures, obviously the blues.