Steve Kiviat reviewed a December 2005 Pinetop Perkins performance for The Washington Post:

Sometime in the mid-1940s, an angry chorus girl slashed Mississippi-born blues guitarist Joe Willie Perkins's left arm, severing several tendons. Perkins switched to piano, and became Pinetop Perkins (the name was a homage to his mentor, boogie-woogie pianist Pinetop Smith). Staying out of trouble, and still working six decades later, 92-year-old Pinetop Perkins performed two enjoyable sets Saturday night at the State Theatre. Guitarist Bob Margolin and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, who had both played with Perkins in Muddy Waters's band, accompanied him, as did veteran acoustic bassist Mookie Brill.

Not able to work as long as he once did, Perkins sat quietly at the back of the stage as his band mates started each set. Alternating vocal leads, the trio delivered professional, if less than exhilarating, takes on roots music standards including Ray Charles's "What'd I Say." Their solid artisanship soon took on emotional life when joined by the person Margolin introduced as "a man who's been young a real long time."

This living legend does not walk fast, but his long fingers remain as quick as ever on the 88. Resplendent in a black suit with dark glasses and a fedora, and with a sly grin on his face, Perkins alternated between Chicago-style 12-bar blues, boogie-woogie, and piano balladry. On the swinging "Big Fat Mama," his right digits swept across the keys as he vocally engaged in a call and response with the band. Perkins's voice now lacks power, but he made up for that with skillfully accented juke-joint phrasing. This bunch has undoubtedly played "I Got My Mojo Working," "Kansas City" and the encore, "Caledonia," a zillion times, but Margolin's piercing leads, the steady backbeat, and Perkins's rollicking ivory-tapping kept these numbers relevant.