My name is Lloyd Whitley. Been in Santa Cruz for many years. Maybe you heard of me, I'm a blues man.

Living in the south in Louisiana we had no electricity so we didn't have no television so I couldn't hear blues and various things. How I got started in this, my brother bought an acoustic guitar when I was about fourteen and he left it at the house. And I started playing on it.

My relatives had little night clubs and I wasn't old enough but they would let me sneak in the back and hear these bands. They say, "Come on in. You can stay in the kitchen with us." I'd listen to people like Slim Harpo, Lightnin' Slim and all those guys - great guys playing the music so my interest stayed with that and I followed it up. Now I'm pretty good with the guitar.

I had a guitar store where I used to buy my stuff before I started playing a lot. He says, "Listen to me," he says, "Lloyd, whatever you do, don't let 'em change you." Meaning people come along and say, "Oh no you ain't doing that right. Right here it says you ought to be doin' this." He said, "Don't let 'em change you." And people will try to change you from what you done all your life. "You ain't doin that right. You got to hit a E minor or a A flat." I says, "If you want to play in this band, this is the way I do. Don't change me. I want to play what I want to play. And that's the way I play it." And that's why it comes out the way it does.