And one of my favorites was Eddy Arnold of course. He just had that smooth, soulful voice.

I did learn that it was the greatest thing in the world to respect yourself. Respect other people.

Most times we would make more money in the tip boxes - they called it - than we were getting paid.

So I got a chance to meet a whole bunch of those old real, real rough but gentle men. They lived hard, but they lived good - in one sense, you know. But you had a lot of fun. Didn't make much money, but you had a lot of fun.

We could play them through the week, and then the weekend we could play the black joints. I learned to be very versatile and learned to love it. So it stays with me even up to now.

And I tell my audience, you know, give the real stars a round of applause. Because without them I'm nobody. So I learned so much from people like that.

My mom moved up between Leland and Greenville when I was just a little tot.