We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so.

We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so.

Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you. I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore.

I used to play - when I first started trying to be professional, I disk jockey from 1949 to 1955 in Memphis, Tennessee, and I was quite popular there as a disk jockey.

I would sit on the street corners in my hometown of Indianola, Mississippi, and I would play. And, generally, I would start playing gospel songs.

When I was in the country and I was trying to play, nobody seemed to pay too much attention to me. People used to say, 'That's just that ole blues singer.'