Bonnie Raitt, born Nov 8, 1949

I think people must wonder how a white girl like me became a blues guitarist. The truth is, I never intended to do this for a living.

How unthinkable that, in a country of such bursting plenty, so many people are facing ongoing hunger and poverty. If we are truly each other’s keepers, let’s support school lunches, food stamps, neighborhood garden projects, and so many other wonderful programs working to put an end to this cruel and needless blight once and for all.

Religion is for people who are scared to go to hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there.

Those of us with a microphone who are blessed with the gift of being in the public eye have a special opportunity to give voice to all those groups whose activism is sometimes ignored or put on the back pages with the the dumbing down of television and the tabloidization of journalism.

Life gets mighty precious when there’s less of it to waste.

I never saw music in terms of men and women or black and white. There was just cool and uncool.

There’s lots of flaws and frailties and cracks in the armor, and nobody wants to put themselves out there as some kind of Joan of Arc because none of us can live up to that, but I’m grateful to be a role model and be respected because I have a whole slew of people, men and women, that I feel the same way about.

I think my fans will follow me into our combined old age. Real musicians and real fans stay together for a long, long time.

Bonnie and John Lee Hooker

Bonnie and John Prine

Bonnie and James Taylor

KoKo Taylor (Sept 28, 1928 – June 3, 2009)

I was so glad to get out of the cotton patch and stop pickin’ cotton, I wouldn’t of cared who come by and said, ‘I’ll take you to Chicago.’

Bonnie Raitt and KoKo

I used to listen to the radio, and when I was about 18 years old, B.B. King was a disc jockey and he had a radio program, 15 minutes a day, over in West Memphis, Arkansas and he would play the blues. I would hear different records and things by Muddy Waters, Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, Sonny Boy Williamson and all these people, you know, which I just loved.

Chuck Berry and KoKo

Blues is my life. It’s a true feeling that comes from the heart, not something that just comes out of my mouth. Blues is what I love, and blues is what I always do.

Edgar Winter and KoKo

photos courtesy of www.kokotaylor.com

John Lee Hooker (Aug 22, 1912 – June 21, 2001)

“One night I was layin’ down,
I heard Papa talkin’ to Mama,
I heard Papa say to let that boy boogie-woogie.
‘Cause it’s in him and it’s got to come out.”

“I like dropping into a small club and playing with some people, trying to help them get a start.”

“I just get an idea and then all of a sudden I’ve got a song.”

“I do benefits. I do them all the time. There’s so many people out there that need help that I can’t say I won’t help them.”

“I’ve got enough money to live me two lifetimes so I don’t have to do nothing I don’t want to.”

“I never was a person for copyin’ people. I like to be John Lee Hooker.”

John Lee Hooker (Aug. 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001)

Photo by Michael Mendelson

Bonnie Raitt and John Lee

John Lee and Keith Richards

John Lee Hooker’s date of birth is a subject of debate; the years 1912, 1915, 1917, 1920, and 1923 have all been suggested. Most official sources list 1917, though at times Hooker stated he was born in 1920. Information found in the 1920 and 1930 censuses indicates that he was actually born in 1912. (Wikipedia)