Steve Miller

“I really enjoy working with luthiers, and have a couple of really old Les Pauls and one of my original Strats that I still carry on the road.”

“Right before I moved out to San Francisco, I played in Buddy Guy's band.”

“The people at Jazz at Lincoln Center are an amazing group and have done a phenomenal job teaching kids and audiences of all ages about jazz.”

“Basically, as everybody that has had a taste of the record business knows, they are gangsters and crooks.”

“Blues is one of the most important art forms. It's an amazing music, and we don't want to lose it.”

“I've been blessed to work with so many wonderful musicians and engineers and friends over the years.”

“In 1956, I began playing in a band with Boz Scaggs.”

“Looking at Capitol's performance over a 22-year period, I figure they were focused three years out of the 22 I worked for them.”

“As soon as I understood what was going on in San Francisco, which was in 1965 and '66, I immediately left Chicago where I was working in a nightclub that was being shaken down by the mafia and the police for payments. I mean, it was a real thug world.”

“I can walk into Tower Records, go get my box set, take out my Steve Miller credit card, and the clerk will look at me and go, 'Thanks, next.'”

“The Joker,' I made the album in 17 days and it was my last shot.”

“I love performing, and connecting with an audience never gets old for me.”

“You have to know what your value is. I started learning my value when I was 12 years old.”

“My strongest message is: 'Never give your songs away. Never sign a contract you can't get out of.'”

“That's what I wanted to do was play music.”

“I never set out to be a rock star, I set out to be a working musician.”

“Giving a record company an album is like giving a gangster your baby or something.”

“I've always enjoyed Cheap Trick.”

“When Chuck Berry came along, what he did was more rock & roll than it was blues. It was more exciting. He was like the next step. I thought his first single, 'Maybellene,' was the greatest song in the world.”

“We sold 1.5 million copies of the 'Abracadabra' album and 26,000 copies of 'Italian X-Rays.'”