Music was my way of keeping people from looking through and around me. I wanted the heavies to know I was around.

People deserve. . . the truth. They deserve honesty. The best music, you can seek some shelter in it momentarily, but it's essentially there to provide you something to face the world with.

This music is forever for me. It's the stage thing, that rush moment that you live for. It never lasts, but that's what you live for.

It was just playing music. I didn't have any intention for it. I knew that I enjoyed making this kind of music. ... It was really just purely for the joy of doing it. It was a lot of fun.

As Branford Marsalis said in a beautiful essay he write upon Clarence's death, C was blessed with 'the power of musical intent.

And whether you're drawn to gospel music or church music or honky-tonk music, it informs your character and it informs your talent.