I grew up listening to Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf and lots of blues, R&B and Motown.
The first thing I learned was the 'St Louis Blues' when I was eight. Both my grandmothers, my mother and uncle played the piano. This was post-war Britain, and they played boogie woogie and blues, which was the underground music of the time.
I'm so old, I can remember before rock 'n' roll come along.
In 1940 I came across a record by Jimmy Yancey. I can't say how important that record is. From then on, all I wanted to do was play the blues.
Blues is one of the most important art forms. It's an amazing music, and we don't want to lose it.
Blues is a very physical music.
The blues are like the fugue in 18th century. It's probably the music that belongs most to our time.
The blues is played everywhere. There's no place I've been where they don't have blues or aren't interested in blues.
There's a very thin line between rock and funk. Funk is like a dirtier blues, and so is rock. They're close cousins.
Swing is my favorite kind of music.
We used to play the Savoy Ballroom, and we always had a boogie tune in the set. Bands like Tommy Dorsey used to do a little boogie woogie. The big bands.
T-Bone Walker was a big influence on just about every guitar player around.
From the first album, we've had songs like 'The Jack' that are blues based. We also did it in 'Ride On,' where we went into the blues.
I just like the blues better than rock 'n' roll.
Our repertoire consisted of rhythm and blues, sort of country rhythm and blues, Sonny Terry things.
I never liked jazz or anything else. Early rock n' roll - that was music to me. Everything else was boring.
John Lee Hooker is the funkiest man alive
Skiffle was a name that was attached to what was, in essence, American folk music with a beat.
I'm from the Bob Wills and the Little Richard school of music. Bob Wills did what the hell he thought, Little Richard did what he thought, and those were my big influences.
Little Richard was it for me, man. Later, it was Ray Charles and Bobby 'Blue' Bland, B.B. King.
I love '50s music, all that stuff from the '50s.
I also like the banging piano - that old good-time piano.
Little Walter I would've liked to have played with.
I love old school rock and roll.
Blues and jazz are such a root to music.
