For a black male, the sound of the blues is pre-Civil Rights. It's oppression.

When I was growing up, I would go hang out with older guys at night in blues clubs.

The blues is the foundation for a lot of things. Things have branched off. It's cool how music grows, but the foundation is always there. It's not going anywhere. The blues is always going to be relevant.

To anyone who thinks systematic racism does not exist you're perhaps the most dangerous.

We've come from the same history - 2000 years of persecution - we've just expressed our sufferings differently. Blacks developed the blues. Jews complained, we just never thought of putting it to music.

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever.