And I tell my audience, you know, give the real stars a round of applause. Because without them I’m nobody. So I learned so much from people like that.

If I don’t love you, baby, grits ain’t groceries.

I’m from the Mississippi delta originally.

If I don't love you, baby, grits ain't groceries.

I'm from the Mississippi delta originally.

So at that time I must have been about 14 or 15. And they gave me a job. I could sing. Couldn't play worth a damn. But I could sing. I could sing.

But I was always tall. I was skinny then. I was tall for my age. And I've been about six feet tall since I was about, oh I guess, 11, 12 years old.

So I was just a kid. I lies about my age and took a little soot and put it under my lip; made me a mustache. They knew I was lying.

So I got a chance to meet a whole bunch of those old real, real rough but gentle men. They lived hard, but they lived good - in one sense, you know. But you had a lot of fun. Didn't make much money, but you had a lot of fun.

Most times we would make more money in the tip boxes - they called it - than we were getting paid.