THE THRILL LIVES ON – An Interview With The King Of The Blues – B.B. King

Apr 26 2024

Story & Interview by Steven C. Pesant.

Rarely does one have the ability to pinpoint the birthplace of legends, but legendary father figure, Riley B. King came into this world on the cotton fields of Itta Bene, Mississippi on September 16, 1925. Born on the coat tails of the Great Depression, young Riley faced the circumstances of his time, but despite being born in the heart of the financially stricken South, young Riley made the best of the culturally rich resources that surrounded him. At age 22, with a mere two bucks in his pocket and a guitar on his backside, Riley traveled to the unfamiliar settings of Memphis, Tennessee. It was here, on the corner of Beale Street that King would gradually make a name for himself. Quickly searching for the supportive friendship of Bukka White, a distant cousin from his mother’s side of the family—it was under White’s watchful guise that King harnessed the musical spirit of his surroundings.

As one of the most renowned blues artists in the region, Bukka helped pave the trails that King would soon walk. Playing on the street corners of Memphis, King quickly elevated his work, and with a little extra persuasive talking, found himself as a guest on Sonny Boy Williamson’s KWEM radio program across the river in West Memphis, Arkansas. With his feet now a little wet, King pushed harder until he hosted his own program, “King’s Spot” at rival station WDIA back in Memphis—home to what would become King’s new moniker “The Pep-ti-con Blues Boy,” thanks to the corporate sponsor of the program. Sensing the difficulty he’d have at making a name for himself when he was simply known as a corporate icon, King set out in search for a new name—a radio friendly name. Riley quickly became “The Beale Street Blues Boy”, later shortened to Blues Boy King and then almost naturally, he became known, simply as, B.B. King.

It was during this time that B.B. explored all of the musical roots of the South and where he discovered the sounds of many blues’ greats—T-Bone Walker, Charlie Christian, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and many others. “Charlie Christian was one of the greatest guitarists ever,” says King. From that point forward King perfected his own skills, blending the sounds of blues, soul, R&B, bee-bop, and jazz until he crafted a sound that would become King’s own—a distinct string-bending blues sound. In the 50 years since the birth of B.B.’s sound, he’s gone on to inspire virtually every musician whose hit the scene since—and when you look at most guitar players today–you can see the influence that B.B. has indelibly left on them. Sure, few rock guitarists would openly admit to have taken licks from B.B. King, but its undeniable once you start listening to their licks.

“Everybody I hear playing is playing something I wished I could play.”

~ B.B. King

Despite his influence on today’s music, King humbly points solely to his inspirational past. “The early greats are who really turned me on to the guitar,” he explains. “Other than my Pastor in church, everybody’s suspect. Everybody I’ve heard and played is suspect. There always seems to have been something in their music that I don’t have. Everybody I hear playing is playing something I wished I could play. So, I have so many, shall we say mentors – it’s so many people that I’m playing – so I say to myself, ‘God, why couldn’t I have thought of some of this?’ But it just didn’t happen.  That’s the way it is with me.  I’m just one guy.  So many people have ideas – so many great ideas — I wish somehow, that I could create some of those thoughts in my own head, it just doesn’t happen,” he laughs.

Despite the challenges of getting heard, King’s breakthrough came in 1951 when he recorded Lowell Fulson’s 1948 hit “Three O’Clock Blues” for RPM Records. With increased popularity, juggling his radio responsibilities along with increased touring became a challenge; so in 1955, King formed his own 16-piece touring band and took his act nationally—something he’s continued to do non-stop, for more than 45 years. Even to this day, while on the doorstep of 75-years young, King (the hardest working man in show business), still performs some 280-shows a year. Although ultimate success for King would not be recognized until 1969 when, now living on the West Coast, he released his trademark signature, “The Thrill Is Gone” for ABC Records. From that moment forth, the legend of B.B. King was destined to stay.

“when you heard Jimi Hendrix you knew it was Hendrix – he was a superstar.”

~ B.B. King

By this time, the Summer Of Love had perfected the second generation of great guitarists—Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and others had become immensely popular. Undeniably, all of these guitarist’s chops could be traced back to the profound work that B.B. King had done before them. In return, many openly pointed to B.B. King as the helpful scribe for their own sound. Hendrix himself was once quoted, “It’s only a matter of the three Kings (Albert King, Freddie King, and B.B. King).” For Hendrix meeting his musical forefather became a reality, when on several occasions, the touring paths of Hendrix and King crossed. “The first I saw of Hendrix was a time with Little Richard,” explains B.B. “He was playing with Little Richard and they happened to be on a show with me. I saw him again two or three times after that, but after that I didn’t see him no more, that’s when he left for Europe.” Although those memories of thirty years ago are perhaps sketchy at best, King does recount, “when you heard Jimi Hendrix you knew it was Hendrix – he was a superstar.” 

Jimi Hendrix and B.B. King eventually did perform together on at least two occasions in April 1968 at New York’s venerable Generation Club while B.B. King was booked for a two-week residency. The first event took place during the club’s grand opening event on April 7.  Following scheduled performances by B.B. King and Big Brother; the performers were later joined by the likes of Buddy Guy, Joni Mitchell, Elvin Bishop, Paul Butterfield, Richie Havens and Jimi Hendrix for a late-night tribute to recently fallen Martin Luther King who had been fatally shot just three days earlier. Also on scene that night was filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker who filmed parts of the jam session for a still unreleased short film Wake At Generation.

At this stage, Hendrix was visiting the newly opened Generation almost nightly (sometimes bringing along his new reel-to-reel tape recorder) and the following week, he again joined B.B. King alongside the Paul Butterfield Blues Band featuring Elvin Bishop and Al Kooper. At these events, B.B. King recalled, “everybody took their turn, and usually they would try dueling with me.” 

Ed. Note: Generation was located at 52 W 8^th Street in the Village and eventually was recommissioned as Jimi Hendrix’s own Electric Lady Studios in 1970.

Jimi Hendrix was a superstar in King’s mind, something that he could simply describe as a result of the simple fact, “he was good at what he did,” he laughs. “And that’s what made him so popular in my opinion. Jimi was number one until Eric Clapton. There was nobody like him, and as far as rock ‘n’ roll is concerned, he was the number one rock ‘n’ roll guitarist.” Although Hendrix holds a special place in King’s heart, Eric Clapton is now his favorite. “Jimi was it until Eric and in my opinion, to me, he’s number one – he stands at the top with nobody else. [Clapton] plays rock ‘n’ roll better than anybody else and he plays everything else as well, including blues, if not better than most of us. He’s number one as far as I’m concerned.”

Although King’s passion lies in the traditional string-bending guitar chops of fellow legends, he’s quickly taken aback when confronted with those that play slide—particularly, Bonnie Raitt. “She, to me, is the best I’ve heard on the slide. There’s a lot of people doing it and doing it well, but Bonnie Raitt can both play slide and sing amazingly well.” In 1996 Raitt joined King, Clapton and fellow blues artists Jimmie Vaughan, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, and Art Neville for the recording of “SRV Shuffle,” appearing on the Grammy-winning, A Tribute To Stevie Ray Vaughan. King has fond memories of that project and when asked if he’d join Raitt again for another project, he jokingly responds, “I’m kind of like the movie—I think it was a James Bond movie, Never Say Never Again [laughs], so I’ll never say never. But I enjoyed it so much,” he adds. “Bonnie is a good friend, she’s a dear friend and I think I’m one of the first artists that took strong interest in what she was doing. After we did some shows together a few years ago, we’ve had this friendship that maybe only two or three people have had before.”

“that’s the way that I hoped it would go, and that is so you can turn on the radio and hear rock ‘n’ roll, soul music, gospel, jazz, and what have you, and you can hear blues too.  That’s what I’ve always wanted.”

~ B.B. King

Having spent close to 50 years on the road, King’s become a man of the world and a scholar of the music he helped inspire. Just as he witnessed musicians in the 60s take his music to new heights, today marks yet another explosion in the blues. One’s first question would be whether King has any worry about the path that blues music has taken in recent years, but he’s quick to dispel any negativity saying, “that’s the way that I hoped it would go, and that is so you can turn on the radio and hear rock ‘n’ roll, soul music, gospel, jazz, and what have you, and you can hear blues too.  That’s what I’ve always wanted.  A lot of the youth today like Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Sheppard, and Joe Louis Walker—I could just go on and name you quite a few that are the ones that happened to make that happen.  And that’s what I prayed for, for a long, long time.  Thank God for the likes of Robert Cray.”

King has reason to like the direction that blues has taken in recent years. Every time someone picks up a CD by Jonny Lang or Kenny Wayne Shepherd, it immediately makes the listener aware of blues’ remarkable heritage—a history that prominently features B.B. King. As one might expect, the renewed interest in blues—by both young and old—has paid hefty dividends for the likes of King. In the 1990s alone, B.B. King took home four Grammy Awards and had his anthem, “The Thrill Is Gone” installed in the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1998. 

The Nineties also marked the birth of his own, self-headlined, “B.B. King Blues Festival.” Since its inception in 1992, the annual traveling festival has included dates with Buddy Guy, Eric Johnson, Jimmie Vaughan, Taj Mahal, Etta James, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Robert Cray, Tower Of Power, and many others, plus a whole host of rising talent including, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Susan Tedeschi, and Indigenous. As King explains, “[the festival] is something I wanted. You know, so many of the great people, young and old, should be heard. A lot of us have heard them, but other people have not, and it’s a wonderful thing today that they’re getting to be heard—they’re finally getting that chance now.” As the festival continues to expand, it gives King a chance to expose the message of the blues to new audiences, and as he acknowledges, “that’s what we’ve hoped to do for a long time. Thank God it’s starting to happen because that’s what I really wanted.”

King also acknowledges the fact that despite his hard work for more than 50 years, it really took close to 40 years before the mainstream public paid much attention. “Thank God for Robert Cray and guys like that,” he says “they don’t want to see the music stop. People like myself and a few others – we’ve been out there. We didn’t just sit down. But,” he concedes, “we never did make that—I don’t know what you call it—that certain something that makes you be a superstar. You know, it’s hard to ignore us, but we just didn’t make that superstar status, if you will.”

As much as King respects and openly encourages the advancement of the blues, he’s not one to forget his roots. In 1999, King released the uppity be-bop tribute to Louis Jordan, Let The Good Times Roll: The Music Of Louis Jordan (MCA Records), a release that King himself proclaims was done because, “I want to do his things to try and show how clever he was with the lyrics and with his music and all that. [Jordan] had just this terrific beat you can dance on. But you still can listen to a lot of the lyrics on some of his songs and laugh while you dance.  That’s the kind of guy he was. He was a real leader.” Despite a tribute in its self, Let The Good Times Roll was as much your typical B.B. King blues album as it was a poignant examination of the history of R&B, and for King, the album became a solemn ‘thank you’ card to Jordan himself. “I wanted to let it be known that I was trying to do [Good Times] jointly, but on the other hand, I don’t want it to not be considered B.B. King. It’s important to remember that Jordan was a great musician—way ahead of his time.”

“I can see everybody else play.  They all play something I like and wished I could play.”

~ B.B. King

Looking at B.B. King – the complete package that he is, you’re almost left asking, what else could this King conquer in the music world. B.B. is always full of smiles and emotionally appreciative of the interest that fans have in his work, but he quietly questions the innovative qualities in his own music compared to that of his contemporaries, “I don’t mean to [sell myself short]. This is not false modesty or anything, It’s just that, this is why you keep hearing somebody come up over here or over there, over there and over there with something new, something different. I think that was one of my reasons maybe why I wasn’t technically a great guitarist—or a lead guitarist. It’s because I can see everybody else play.  They all play something I like and wished I could play.  But then I think to myself, ‘Hmm, that really sounds good.  I want to play it that way,’ but, can I play it?” he laughs.

Like a young child holding onto every word of an old tale being told to me by my grandfather, I quietly listened to B.B. as he’s reminisced of a not too unfamiliar riddle. “Ah, there’s an old joke that there are these animals up in a tree eating grapes.  A fox was standing under the tree and he yelled up at some of them up there, ‘Hey, guys, throw me some grapes down here.’  And you’ve always got smart alecks.  ‘You better come up and get them if you want some.’ But that fox knew he couldn’t climb trees, so he said, ‘Well, hell, they’re probably sour anyway,’” he chuckles. “So I guess that’s the way I’ve been.  When I can’t play something somebody else played, I say, ‘Well, I wouldn’t play it like that anyhow.’”

I suppose it’s easy to be humble when you’re the undisputed King of the blues—owner of a career spanning five-decades and two centuries, more than 50 albums, and a continual worldwide touring schedule that sees him play roughly 280 shows a year. In 1991 King’s influence on the Memphis blues-scene was marked with the opening of his own “B.B. King’s Blues Club” at the top of Beale Street; a second opened on the Universal City Walk in 1994 and a new location is set to open shortly in New York’s Times Square’s “E-Walk.” With a presence on the outskirts of Hollywood and a new foothold in the Big Apple, what’s next?

“I don’t know?” he ponders while he laughs. “Only God knows that. But I do wish before I pass on, is to be able to be featured in a movie, not the star, but like a costar with some of the great…you name them and I’d like to be with them.  Young or old, in the movies – that’s the one thing that’s likely for me at this time that I’d like to do.  I’ve been in many, many movies [ed. Shake Rattle And Roll, When We Were Kings, Heart & Souls, The Bluesman, Run Of Hearts, and Spies Like Us], but it’s always a cameo appearance, as myself.  And I’d like to be in a movie where—I don’t care what kind of part it is, I want to do several things, different ways now. That’s about it.”

Regardless of the choices that King makes in the future, he’s landed himself a permanent starring role as “the king” of blues music. His career will likely never be equaled. To help celebrate it, his latest compilation, B.B. King: His Definitive Greatest Hits (MCA Records, 1999) was self-dubbed “this is the music that I enjoyed playing.” And despite his biggest hit being titled, “The Thrill Is Gone,” he’ll quickly stop you in your tracks, “I’ll tell you the truth. [My thrill] is going to try to be here for as many minutes and seconds as I can, to take it all in.” 

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This interview was conducted in November 1999 and was originally published in the Spring 2000 issue of Experience Hendrix: The Official Jimi Hendrix Magazine.