Lowell [Fulson] had a station wagon and a Roadmaster Buick, and we drove for days and days and days on end [on tour]… In Texas, I got to play piano behind cats like T-Bone Walker and Big Joe Turner. Sometimes they were on the same bill with Lowell, and our band would back 'em up. I especially loved playing behind Big Joe. I had grown up with his records, and here I was on the stage with him. That man has so much weeping in his voice. If it was just you and him in a room, he could sing the blues at you till you'd break down and cry... Joe Turner reminds me of Lady Day [Billie Holiday] when she was a young woman. He has a tear in his voice. And I ain't ever heard anyone sing the blues so raw and so pure. I also loved the way he sang "Chains of Love"; that was a heartbreaker… I also knew many of the gospel men and women… Among them were the best singers I had ever heard in my life. And the very cream of the crop--for me at least-- were cats like Ira Tucker of the Dixie Hummingbirds, Archie Brownlee of the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, and Claude Jeter of the Swan Silvertones. These guys have voices which could shake down your house and smash all the furniture in it. Jesus, could they wail!… So while I was listening to all the new jazz, while I was playing dirty old blues with Lowell, I was also hearing all the churchy sounds. << less