Taj Mahal

“Ziggy Marley is the third generation of Marleys I know. I knew his grandmother and his dad - I did a children's album with his grandmother. They're like family.”

“I didn't want to fall into the trap of complacency.”

“If what you're talking about is seeing someone perform, then I'll have to say that in the rhythm-and-blues side of things, seein' Otis Redding live was it, you know?”

“As a youngster, my parents made me aware that all that was from the African Diaspora belonged to me. So I came in with Caribbean music, African music, Latin music, gospel music and blues.”

“I love playing in Germany. I love playing anywhere where people are going to enjoy the music. Germany is especially nice to play.”

“I see myself as a composer who plays music and likes to play with other people, and not just as a solo artist.”

“Naw, it - it never stops, man... You gotta be doing what you're supposed to be doing - whenever, however it's coming down, you know. If you're getting your butt kicked - you still gotta do what you gotta be doing.”

“My mother was American, and my father was from the Caribbean, and there was a big open door into the world of humanity and music.”

“I would have never gotten to college if it hadn't been for getting up at 4 A.M. and milking them Holsteins.”

“The song of the blues, the song of the music, was something a lot of people missed out on. They thought they had to swagger a certain way or bark at the mic, and you don't have to do that.”

“In looking out into the world, it didn't look all that nice out there. And who were the nice people? Certainly Mahatma Gandhi was.”

“It's very interesting, the dynamics of popularity. When you do something all the time, you don't worry about whether it's trendy or not.”

“My parents grew up during the Harlem renaissance.”

“I'm a composer, man.”

“I'm always cracking up when I hear what people think I should be doing.”

“Particularly with the blues, it's not just about bad times. It's about the healing spirit.”

“It's just like heirloom tomatoes; this is heirloom music. We used to have all kinds of diversity in our poultry, in our vegetables, in our fruits, and slowly but surely the monoculture beast comes in. I'm saying that's not a good idea. And if it means that I gotta do it on my own, then I do it on my own.”

“I'm old enough to chew my peas and corn without choking.”

“All the music that I play today, I actually heard either at home or in my neighborhood when I was growing up in the '40s and '50s.”

“I don't care if it's somebody else's song. Most of the time, you'll find that I'll put my own stamp on it. But I started writing more because, you know, it's easy to regurgitate what somebody else is doing, but it's exciting to be able to come up with your own writing.”