1983 - Country music had made a resurgence in this country so I joined a country band. I was the only black guy in the band and consequently, usually the only black guy in many of the places where we played.

Every racist that I know - and I know a lot of racists - every racist that I know voted for Donald Trump.

My parents were U.S. Foreign Service, so I spent a lot of time you know, overseas in various countries around the world, you know, I was an American Embassy brat and today, as a professional musician, I travel all over this country and around the world.

Back in the day, prior to rock and roll, music halls, concert venues were segregated if they allowed black people in at all. You know, there were ropes that went around the sitting sections with signs hanging that would say, 'Sitting for white patrons only,' or 'Colored sitting only.'

We would not have rock and roll without Chuck Berry, and when I first heard Chuck Berry, I fell in love with that music, and when I saw him, I changed my whole career trajectory that I was on as a kid.

Chuck Berry had a very profound impact on me. The man was a genius.

Believe it or not, the best way to put somebody at ease or bring them to a level of trust is to know as much if not more about them than they know about themselves or the organization to which they belong.

We've simply been putting Band-Aids on the wounds of racism. We haven't drilled down to the bone to get to its source.

Am I going to vote for Trump? Absolutely not. I do not believe in his platform.

I don't consider myself to be a racist, but to me there's not much difference between a black racist or a white racist.