Weevil Quotes

Of all the calamities that have struck the rural Negro people in the South in recent decades-soil erosion, the infiltration of white tenants into plantation areas, the ravages of the boll weevil, the southwestern shift in cotton cultivation-none has had such grave consequences, or threatens to have such lasting effect, as the combination of world agricultural trends and federal agricultural policies initiated during the thirties. (Gunnar Myrdal)
On Charley Patton's voice and music style: I heard this fella, and his voice sounded like my voice. I'd always thought, ‘Well, I could never be a singer with this horrible voice'. I hated it. Absolutely hated it. Still do. But he sounded like the same kind of thing. I didn't know black American terms: a boll weevil or turnpike blues. But there was an emotion that clicked with me. I became fascinated with gospel blues. I still play more gospel than Chicago. I very rarely go anywhere near that speed, aggression, Clapton thing. Someone once reviewed me, saying the testosterone was missing from my blues solos, because I don't do Chicago. It's just alien to me. View quote
Chris Rea