But, in my teens, I found the more I listened to Muddy, the more I went listening to to piano playing of Otis Spann.

“Muddy Waters was my touchstone for guitar,” Laurie recalled. His musical epiphany came when he heard the 1978 album “Live on the Queen Mary” by Professor Longhair (real name: Henry Byrd), the Big Easy music legend and 1992 Rock and Roll hall of Fame inductee who wrote and sang such classic songs as “Tipitina,” “Baldhead” and “Go to the Mardi Gras.” Laurie took piano lessons as a kid, but soon abandoned the instrument. That music and those artists feel, to me, to be more current than almost anything I hear now.” And, now, looking back, is 100 years old. “I’ve always been touched by this music that was half a century old then. “I should have been more engaged with the current musical scene, but that’s never been my way,” he said, speaking from a recent tour stop in Seattle. Never mind that his mid-teen years coincided with the rise of punk-rock in England in the 1970s. Laurie was a kid when he heard a record of blues giant Willie Dixon singing “I Can’t Quit You Baby.” He was hooked immediately and, as it transpired, permanently. That sounds glib, I know, but that is genuinely the case.” I’m lucky to get the pleasure I do, but the most important thing is to share it. I love it, if the audience loves it, I want to share the pleasure I get, the joy and peace I’ve found in this music, with audiences. I’m only going to enjoy this if I can share this pleasure with an audience.

Hugh laurie tiny piano