7. Howlin’ WolfThe Howlin’ Wolf Album

I loved his howlin’ and the gutbucket. And what he was singing about was like, “I’m built for comfort and not for speed.” If you listen to the lyrics and what he was singing about and that raw, raw music that him and Willie Dixon and the other were putting together… I didn’t have an agenda for listening to music, but these artists with these songs just happened to strike me at that particular time. It didn’t have to be in a certain category but it was just something about those songs!

When I tripped, I had to have me some Bitches Brew, I had to have some Santana and it wasn’t because these songs were like hits or what they play on the radio every day. When you go back and look, these guys were kinda like underground and then the public finally caught on. But I was listening to that stuff when it came out. And was thinking, this is the stuff – these are the cats that I’m paying attention to. They’re not using a formula to make hits; they don’t know what they’re doing but they’re doing it. And that’s the way I wanted to be.