Luther Allison
I've been waiting for that bright sunshine to show up and shine in my back door someday.
But let's face it, I still have to look at my self and look at the things I've done down the stretch.
I mean, look how many musicians have come through and played beside me, and I'm workin' and they're not.
And I can do the rock clubs if I have to.
Well, I first started going to Europe in the late '70s.
But you know, I still had a dream of being able to go back home and tour.
But my big thing was always the blues.
So I cut out all the drinkin' and hangin' out and stuff like that early on.
I focused on how these people became how they were.
I want people to recognize Luther Allison when I play.
Buddy Guy finally got a break and made it. And Buddy Guy deserves it.
I look in music magazines now and see things on Luther Allison, and my name's getting out there more, thanks to all the good people at Alligator Records and at my management company.
Well, I've had to deal with everything in my life... leavin' the family, learnin' what not and what to do.
We played the same thing in Europe we played in the States.
But there was not a job that could say that Luther Allison didn't do his job.
In the blues, it just takes so long for us to get recognized.
What I want to do, is play music for somebody who believe in me.
I want to play in a place people want to hear me.
I don't want to be in some big beautiful place that nobody want me, because I play the blues.
Me being a skinny guy, I could crawl into the steel pit.
But I did that, and I created another blues scene, another something I can sing about.
I have as much input to the blues; I just never got the chance, the opportunity or maybe the respect.
I think I'm the most positive guy still going in my generation, and I'm out there to prove that.
In the States, it takes you a lifetime just to get from Chicago's South Side to the West Side.
When I got to Chicago I had to find my way.
The blues is the foundation, and it's got to carry the top. The other part of the scene, the rock 'n' roll and the jazz, are the walls of the blues.
Before I left, I opened a lot of doors for a lot of people to play the blues.
But I never had that commercial opportunity to be played on the radio, so how could I be popular?
I had the qualifications, but I was not chosen.
Leave your ego, play the music, love the people.Collection: Play
Jonny Lang has the power to move the music into the next millennium by reaching the ears of a new generation. The great musicians have the power to break all of the 'isms'-race, age, sex, et cetera. Jonny Lang is one of those musicians.Collection: Sex
Coming from the cotton plantation, the southern regions, I was brought up with real nice kids, mannered kids, who would go to church on Sunday.Collection: Real