A Brief History of the Blues #6 B.B.King

“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.”

B. B. King


He moves slowly now, his 82-year-old body starting to betray him, the joints aching from time and the thousands upon thousands of miles he's traveled over a lifetime. He steps onto the stage in his trademark tuxedo, throws the strap of the Gibson ES-335 over his shoulder and squints slightly through the spot lights into the cheering, foot stomping and applauding crowd. His broad face breaks into a wide, humbled, almost embarrassed smile as a rumbling "Good Evening" floats out to his audience. As his left hand moves to the neck of the guitar and the right hand reaches down and strikes the strings, the years melt away and suddenly you find yourself watching a master craftsman ply his trade. The house fills with those unmistakable midnight blue tones that can and will raise the hairs on the back of your neck. B. B. King drags his eyelids half closed, screws up his face and racks strings bends that seem to defy physics. He's off into his own place and he's taking you with him.

Born Riley B. King on September 16th, 1925 in Mississippi on a plantation between Itta Bena and Indianola, made his early life as a farm worker. "Before I was a superstar in the blues, I was a superstar on the plantation, because after years of picking cotton and pulling a plow, I was driving a tractor," he jokingly told NPR during a 1993 interview. A guitar-playing pastor at the Sanctified Church awed him with his playing when B. B. was five years old but he did not buy his first guitar until he was 12. Working has a house-boy and earning $15 a month, he saved as much as he could and later bought a red Stella Acoustic from a white man who lived down the road from him, needing to have his boss front him the money first. Like so many guitar players of his time, he taught himself with the assistance of a couple of books and listening to the recordings of the popular artists of the day. At fifteen, he played on the streets for change in his native Indianolo but later got the itch to move. He hitchhiked to Memphis in 1946 in search of a music career, staying briefly with his cousin Bukka White, already a blues staple in the Memphis area in the 1940's.

After playing on the streets of Memphis for a year as well as with a few gospel groups, King was given an opportunity to play on the popular radio local radio show hosted by harmonica legend Sonny Boy Williamson. From there, it was a short jaunt to regular gigs in Beale Streets clubs. Soon after, B.B. secured a stint on WDIA hosting a radio spot, singing blues and playing records under the self-appointed air-name Beales Street Blues Boy, shortening it to B. B. King. His first recordings were done in 1949, many sides for Sam Phillips of Sun Records, but he did not score his first hit until December 29, 1951 when his remake of Lowell Fulson's "Three O'Clock Blues" topped the R&B charts for 5 weeks. He scored four more number one hits between 1951 and 1954, the last number one being his now signature "You Upset Me Baby" in November of 1954.

By 1955, King had quit his radio show on WDIA, purchased a bus to haul his band around the country and embarked on a cross-country tour. In 1958, his bus hit a gas truck on a bridge in Texas. Although King nor none of his band members were on the bus at the time, the truck driver was killed and this occurred during the same week that his insurance had been cancelled. It took King several years to pay the debts incurred as a result of the accident.

Although King remained very popular with black audiences; he never achieved the same success as other African Americans of the era and had yet to break free from the chitlin' circuit. This changed dramatically for King with the recording of "Live at the Regal", a live recording of a show done at a South Side Chicago blues club in 1964. This recording is often referred to as being one of the best lives records ever made along side of Jimi Hendrix's "Band of Gypsys'", The Allman Brothers "Live at the Filmore East" and Johnny Cash's "At Folsum Prison".

It was his performance at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1967 that exposed B. B. King to a wider audience of jazz, folk and rock audiences. During this time when so many British guitarists were paying homage to American blues artists, King struck well in the U.K. landing an tour opening for The Rolling Stones on their sixth U.S. tour.

In 1970, King recorded his most famous song and although never a number one hit, "The Thrill Is Gone" is immediately recognized from the electric shrill of the opening notes to his huge, booming, friendly voice. Not only a staple of his shows but it is also a song that any self-respecting blues guitarist is obligated to learn.

His most famous band mate has always been his guitar Lucille. And there have been many over the years. But her name comes from one particular incident in Twist, Arkansas early in his career. During the show, two men started fighting on the dance floor and a kerosene heater was kicked over. Within moments, the wood framed club was on fire. King escaped with the crowd but he ran back inside to rescue his cherished guitar and barely made it back out with his life. When King learned that the fight was over a woman named Lucille, King named all of his guitars Lucille to serve as a reminder never to do something that reckless again. Gibson has issued a special commemorative B. B. King signature edition of the famed ES-335 named, of course, Lucille.

King had said early in his career that he wanted to become a blues ambassador to the world in the same way that Louis Armstrong had done with jazz. And he did just that. His infusion of rock, jazz and elements of gospel in his playing result in a style that is distinctly his. Known for his single note melody runs, King does not play chords nor does he sing while he plays. King sings out in a warm, friendly manner that deftly combines elements of pain and humor, the hallmarks of the blues. When he halts his voice, Lucille picks up the song where King leaves off, carrying on in a round robin of singer and guitarist, call and response in the rich Delta tradition.

Always a tireless performer, in his early days as a struggling musician, King would often play as many as four towns a night, making it back to WDIA in time for his on-air shift. His touring schedule is almost legendary being estimated that now, in his early eighties, that King has played somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty-thousand shows in his career and still managing over two hundred shows a year. He has won Grammy's, has been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has been awarded several honorary degrees. Not bad for a man who once said "I'm fortunate enough to do what I love to do. I would do it for free as long as someone was paying my rent." You can hear the grin in his voice when he adds "Just don't tell my promoter I said that…"

On a personal note, I have seen B. B. King several times and will see him every chance I get. Sure he seems to talk more in his shows than he plays these days and it's easy to see time wearing him down but when it comes to King, the thrill is still there. If you've never been to one of his shows, I would urge you to go. It's impossible to know how much longer we'll have him around. Don't miss your chance to see one of the last of great bluesmen. A man with ties directly to the rich, verdant Delta soil and the heavy tradition that it brought. Don't miss your chance to see blues royalty while you can. Don't miss your chance to see The King of the Blues.