What I want to do, is play music for somebody who believe in me.

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've been waiting for that bright sunshine to show up and shine in my back door someday.

In the blues, it just takes so long for us to get recognized.

I don't want to be in some big beautiful place that nobody want me, because I play the blues.

But let's face it, I still have to look at my self and look at the things I've done down the stretch.

In the States, it takes you a lifetime just to get from Chicago's South Side to the West Side.

So I cut out all the drinkin' and hangin' out and stuff like that early on.

Before I left, I opened a lot of doors for a lot of people to play the blues.

And I can do the rock clubs if I have to.

But you know, I still had a dream of being able to go back home and tour.

I think I'm the most positive guy still going in my generation, and I'm out there to prove that.

But I did that, and I created another blues scene, another something I can sing about.

But there was not a job that could say that Luther Allison didn't do his job.

I mean, look how many musicians have come through and played beside me, and I'm workin' and they're not.

I focused on how these people became how they were.

We played the same thing in Europe we played in the States.

I have as much input to the blues; I just never got the chance, the opportunity or maybe the respect.

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.

When I got to Chicago I had to find my way.

I want people to recognize Luther Allison when I play.

But my big thing was always the blues.

Well, I've had to deal with everything in my life... leavin' the family, learnin' what not and what to do.

I want to play in a place people want to hear me.

What I want to do, is play music for somebody who believe in me.

Me being a skinny guy, I could crawl into the steel pit.

Well, I first started going to Europe in the late '70s.

Buddy Guy finally got a break and made it. And Buddy Guy deserves it.

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.

The blues is the foundation and its got to carry the top. The other part of the scene the rock n roll and the jazz are the walls of the blues.

When you use music to worship you are not attempting to entertain.

Pop music, disco music, and heavy metal music is about shutting out the tensions of life, putting it away.

When I did the record, I was coming off a time when my contract had been sold and the music industry had changed a lot. I didn't understand how to make records for big labels. I was waiting for a new kind of record label to emerge.

You've got to realize. In the western world, regardless of what color you are, what title the music is, it's all played by the same notes.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

Whether I'm doing music or I'm walking down the street or I'm in a record store buying a record or I walk into a comic store and I'm buying comics or having a drink with my friends, it's the same me.

When rock came along the lyrics and melodies became less important and it bothered me to think that perhaps they might not regain the value they have to music - they are music.

I want to promote poetry to the point where you got all the baldhead kids running around doing poetry, getting the music out of the way and having only words, the spoken word, and then see what happens.

There is no music that can't be used politically, but the motives behind the creation of that music can be non-political.

The kind of music or the kind of arrangements that I do, the kind of musicians I choose, is just what I like to hear.

If not for music, I would probably be a very frustrated scientist. It's one way to answer the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' I feel music answers it better.

Since I'm allergic to various things, the army wouldn't accept me during the war, and I got into the Office of War Information, which sent music to Europe.

My singing is my hobby. It's me and my brother. We just enjoy writing music.

I was determined to carve out a music of my own. I didn't want to copy anybody.

I have tried to make the music a bit easier for them to understand.

What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.

That music and the lyrical aspects of Razorblade Romance is so personal to me that, now with me being grown up a bit and meeting new people and doing new things, it makes me look at the same things I was writing about back in the day through a different colored lens.

The only time I would like to see was the 20s and 30s in America because I love the music and the style and the optimism, I wanted to see New York being built. I wanted to see all that, you know.