Luther Allison
When I got to Chicago I had to find my way.
What I want to do, is play music for somebody who believe in me.
Well, I've had to deal with everything in my life... leavin' the family, learnin' what not and what to do.
Well, I first started going to Europe in the late '70s.
We played the same thing in Europe we played in the States.
We fell into the lap of those blues artists - like Little Walter and Freddie King - and we found ourself a little city of love.
We all went to Chicago - like I went to Paris, like I went to Los Angeles.
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.
The blues always been there with me. As far as I'm concerned, it always will be.
So my thing was to go inside of those people's trips, and do me - just to have something different.
So I cut out all the drinkin' and hangin' out and stuff like that early on.
Me being a skinny guy, I could crawl into the steel pit.
It's sad that everybody can't be a success, you know? It's too bad, 'cause there are so many who are just as talented as I am.
In the States, it takes you a lifetime just to get from Chicago's South Side to the West Side.
In the blues, it just takes so long for us to get recognized.
I've been waiting for that bright sunshine to show up and shine in my back door someday.
I went from a champion... it became very hard in the beginning, because I gave up everything in the States, to take this chance.
I want to play in a place people want to hear me.
I think I'm the most positive guy still going in my generation, and I'm out there to prove that.
I paid my dues in the States, I went through all the colleges and the nightclubs.