About the time I was playing hot hillbilly piano [late 1940s]…I bought a primitive wire recorder -- it was really a toy to me -- and some guys came by [my lodgings in Tampa, Florida] just to practice… I had written a song -- hell, I can't even say that; I didn't consider it a composition, just a blues I made up. Called it "Found My Baby There." It was a nasty little number, and that day we worked it out -- along with a couple of other songs -- with the recorder going. The sound quality was so bad it sounded like we were all locked away in a closet. Funny thing about that song: After the first chorus, I took a solo on the piano and accompanied myself vocally. I hummed the actual notes I played on piano and worked in unison duet with myself. I had never heard anyone do this before, and, to tell the truth, I'm not sure what gave me the idea. Might have been listening to T-Bone Walker, the blues singer. He was able to get a sound out of his electric guitar -- bending and extending the notes -- which always fractured me. You can't do that on piano; you can only suggest it with a grace note here or there. But by singing on top of my playing, I was able to create -- at least in my own head -- a guitar-like, bluesy effect. << less