I don’t like anybody to be angry with me. I’d rather have friends.
Growing up, I was taught that a man has to defend his family. When the wolf is trying to get in, you gotta stand in the doorway.
We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you’re doing so.
When I do eventually drop, I pray to God that it will happen in one of three ways. Firstly, on stage or leaving the stage, then secondly in my sleep. And the third way? You’ll have to figure that out for yourself!
The blues was bleeding the same blood as me.
Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy’s playing blues like we play, he’s in high school. When he starts playing jazz it’s like going on to college, to a school of higher learning.
It’s going to be years and years before most people realize how greatly he contributed to American music.
I don’t think it’s meant for man to know everything at once.
I never use that word, retire.
I’ve put up with more humiliation than I care to remember.
We are here because there are things that need our help. Like the planet. Like each other. Like animals. The world is like a garden, and we are its protectors.
I’m self-taught. But I finally learned that they was having little shows or night dances or whatever you call them at little juke joints not far from where I lived, and I used to go there. They wouldn’t let me play inside, but I could sit outside on the weekends, when it wasn’t raining or something.
If you want to be a good blues singer, people are going to be down on you, so dress like you’re going to the bank to borrow money.
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 don’t have a favorite song that I’ve written. But I do have a favorite song: ‘Always on My Mind,’ the Willie Nelson version. If I could sing it like he do, I would sing it every night. I like the story it tells.
The way I feel today, as long as my health is good and I can handle myself well and people still come to my concerts, still buy my CDs, I’ll keep playing until I feel like I can’t.
I don’t think anybody steals anything; all of us borrow.
If you can’t get your songs to people one way, you have to find another.
Albert King wasn’t my brother in blood, but he sure was my brother in Blues.
May I live forever. But may you live forever and a day.