All I can do is do what I can do, and do what I know how to do. I do what I love to do, and that's pretty much it.
The blues is the foundation for a lot of things. Things have branched off. Its cool how music grows, but the foundation is always there. Its not going anywhere. The blues is always going to be relevant.
I don't believe in competition, ain't nobody else like me around
There's nothing like a music festival. People are ready to have a good time. I don't think anyone comes to a festival going, 'I'm gonna be a complete bummer today.
I don't think anything can touch the expressive range of the guitar.
When I was growing up, I would go hang out with older guys at night in blues clubs.
You could say I'm a laid-back kind of guy.
You're gonna know my name by the end of the night.
I was just a very emotional player. I wore my emotions on my sleeve. I pretty much told you how I felt. I didn't mince words, so to speak. If I felt bad, I let you know that I felt bad. If I felt you were playing sorry, I told you. If I was playing sorry, I told myself that. I came from an era when losing really hurt. I didn't see anything good about it.
I failed public speaking in grade school, 'cause I was so nervous and scared.
My mom always told me I should have a Plan B. I said that if I'm not going to play guitar I'm going to play drums. And if I'm not going to play drums, I'm going to play bass. I always just wanted to play music. I was completely obsessed.
I am the type of artist where you can't tell me anything. I have always been that way. I am right. I don't need any input.
Music is soaking up things that I see in other people or things that go on in my life, and I put it out there in the form of a song.
I opened up my mind as far as playing music. I was at a Cody Chesnutt concert a few years ago, and a friend introduced me to him. We just started talking about music, and he asked me what I did. I said, "I have these songs and I'm kind of nervous to put them out, because I've just kind of been playing blues stuff, and playing other people's songs." He said, "You should just put them out there, man. Why not? It's just gonna bother you if you don't. The easiest thing to do is to just let it go." So I just took that with me.
Things that I would say or would like to saw are just easier to sing about and put out there in music.
I grew up being a huge fan of Bruce Lee, and this quote always stuck out to me. He said, "Water can flow, or it can crash. If you put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot." It always made sense to me to adapt the flow and roll with whatever the situation is and to not think about it too much and get caught up in it. It works easier for me that way.
I like to see how people interact with each other and I draw from that. I'm inspired by that.
For a black male, the sound of the blues is pre-Civil Rights. It's oppression.
I'm somewhat of a hoarder. I keep everything.
I've been called 'musically schizophrenic,' and some people think that's a cool thing.
Most of my songs start out as being very aggressive and guitar-driven.
When I got my first guitar, I played along with everything I heard that had guitar in it, like the Ramones, Nirvana and Sublime, as well as whatever hip-hop and R&B stuff was on the radio.
I know that I'm capable of moving around on the guitar. I can express myself the way I want to and feel good about it. But as far as technical chops, I'm not a learned musician.
I grew up with synthesizers and weird, spacey music-hip-hop, R&B, modern rock-that I heard on the radio. That's influenced the way I play music. It's natural for me to go with what I feel. If I didn't let that other stuff out and stuck to a certain format, I would feel like I was missing out on something. I'm just enjoying my ride and being who I am.
The guys in my band buy instruments and sell and trade them. But if I have something I hang onto it. Everything is sentimental to me.
