Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
But my big thing was always the blues.
And I can do the rock clubs if I have to.
When I got to Chicago I had to find my way.
I had the qualifications, but I was not chosen.
Leave your ego, play the music, love the people.
I want to play in a place people want to hear me.
I focused on how these people became how they were.
I want people to recognize Luther Allison when I play.
Well, I first started going to Europe in the late '70s.
Me being a skinny guy, I could crawl into the steel pit.
We played the same thing in Europe we played in the States.
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.
Buddy Guy finally got a break and made it. And Buddy Guy deserves it.
But you know, I still had a dream of being able to go back home and tour.
So I cut out all the drinkin' and hangin' out and stuff like that early on.
But there was not a job that could say that Luther Allison didn't do his job.
Before I left, I opened a lot of doors for a lot of people to play the blues.
But I did that, and I created another blues scene, another something I can sing about.
I've been waiting for that bright sunshine to show up and shine in my back door someday.
I don't want to be in some big beautiful place that nobody want me, because I play the blues.
In the States, it takes you a lifetime just to get from Chicago's South Side to the West Side.
I think I'm the most positive guy still going in my generation, and I'm out there to prove that.
But I never had that commercial opportunity to be played on the radio, so how could I be popular?
I have as much input to the blues; I just never got the chance, the opportunity or maybe the respect.
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.
Well, I've had to deal with everything in my life... leavin' the family, learnin' what not and what to do.
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.
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.
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.
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.