In looking out into the world, it didn't look all that nice out there. And who were the nice people? Certainly Mahatma Gandhi was.

I'm perceived as someone who goes out and searches for new music, but it was all present in my household.

I see myself as a composer who plays music and likes to play with other people, and not just as a solo artist.

The song of the blues, the song of the music, was something a lot of people missed out on. They thought they had to swagger a certain way or bark at the mic, and you don't have to do that.

More and more people are finally realizing that in the heart of America, there's all this incredible music that wasn't widely heard before because it wasn't in the interest of those who feel they have to control the taste of the wider public.

I came up not understanding that a lot of people didn't start to hear music until they went to college or were turned on by an older brother or sister.