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The blues is like a planet. It's an enormous topic. You can't ignore the impact that it has had and continues to have on the whole musical culture. It's a tree that everyone is swinging from. Without it, I don't know where I would be. It's indelible and indispensable.

I think that the blues is in everything, so it's not possible to neglect it. You hear somebody go 'Ooh ooh oooh,' and that's the blues. You hear a rock n' roll song. That's the blues. Somebody playing a guitar solo? They're playing the blues.

There's no way in the world I can feel the same blues the way I used to. When I play in Chicago, I'm playing up-to-date, not the blues I was born with. People should hear the pure blues - the blues we used to have when we had no money.

You don't have to live the blues to play the blues.

To me, blues is more of a feel and a vibe, rather than sitting there and saying, 'Well, I'm gonna play bluesy now.'

Blues ain't never going anywhere. It can get slow, but it ain't going nowhere.

Yes, there's a lot of the blues in my playing.

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

The blues is life itself.

I think the blues is fine for blues players, but free blues has never made much sense to me.