Jimmy Witherspoon discusses the influences of a blues artist.

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Jimmy Witherspoon discusses the nuances of the blues genre.

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Jimmy Witherspoon discusses his own blues influences.

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 Q: “What about the blues per se? You were saying that you know very little about the ‘folk blues’, the Mississippi Delta blues and all that. You just sing what you feel…”

A: Jimmy Witherspoon: “Well, I heard some of that as a kid in Arkansas. But I don’t really know nothing about it. I’ve lived in the country with my grandfather, but my father was a break bone in the railroad. And a lot of people, critics and newspaper writers write these myths about you have to have picked cotton, you have to shot somebody and go into prison and this inspires you to sing the blues. This is a lie. Thank God, I have got two lovely kids, one fifteen, one seventeen, and I’m living very comfortably. And when you see me patting my hand on my left leg sometimes, it’s not because it’s a rhythm, it’s because the money’s there and it makes me feel better that I can reach a high note or bend a blue note. It's important to me.”

Interviewer: “Yeah.”

Jimmy Witherspoon: “Has nothing to with poverty. Blues has nothing to do with poverty.”

Interviewer: “What’s it have to do with?”

Jimmy Witherspoon: “It’s just a feeling, happy. Okay, I'll sing fast forward the blues. I didn’t do it last night, you didn’t hear it, but I wrote that tune that’s because I’m making a gesture or jokes at Jimmy Witherspoon. Because most of my ladies are young ladies, and I’ve experiences not as bad as the lyric sound because sometimes I get challenged on these lyrics and it’s enjoyable. But I’m just going to show you. It don’t have to be a sad music, and blues, it depends on who the individual is listening to it. If that particular lyric hit that person's feeling the way he or she is feeling at that time, that’s what makes it ... she or he is already blue and this just helps her get out of this … I’ve had people crying when I come out to the stage with joy though, not of sadness.”

Interviewer: “Yeah.”

Jimmy Witherspoon: “So when you can reach people and project like this, you’ve accomplished something.”