I caught up with 34-year-old Jason “Lefty” Williams, the Atlanta-based blues singer/guitarist while he was setting up for his performance as part of the Bessie Smith strut to talk about why he loves the blues, his inspirations and what it’s like playing with only one hand.

Q: What do you love about the blues?

A: It's just a natural thing for me, something I tend to lean toward, musically. I'm not sure where the connection comes from, but it's always been there. I like the emotion. There's a lot of raw feeling that comes out of the songs.

Q: What inspires you?

A: It depends. It might just be a word or something I find amusing or something I find insulting. I have a song on my first album called 'Mississippi Orgy,' that's about a law in the state of Mississippi. One of my wife's best friends was telling me this, but apparently, there's a law that if four or more people are in a room with their shoes off, legally, they're having an orgy and can be arrested for it. I wrote a song about that. Almost all of my songs are about a personal experience, something I've been through.

Q: Do you have to live the blues to sing them?

A: I wouldn't say that. It certainly doesn't hurt. If you've been through it, it makes it a little bit easier to spit it out, I think.

Q: What do you know about the Strut?

A: This is my first year down here. I'm just excited and thrilled to be here. I'm really excited.

Q: Do people often come up and ask about your arm?

A: Oh yeah. It doesn't bother me at all.

Q: You were born without it, right?

A: I was born without the hand, never had one. I've grown up this way, and people have always asked. It's not something I consider to be a big deal.”

Q: I play music too, and I can't imagine how hard it would be to lose the ability to use one of my hands. Has it been a struggle to play?

A: I can't even imagine what that would be like. I was born this way, so for me, this is normal. I can't even begin to fathom what people who lose something go through.

E-mail Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com