Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Current-Jan. 2008 Feature Story 1

B.B. King-The Thrill Is Never Gone

By Regan Henson

And so, the story goes, one winter night in the mid 1950s the young bluesman found himself playing a juke joint, its only source of heat provided by a half-filled barrel of kerosene, which, in those days, was set afire to push back the cold. As the young bluesman finished his set, a fight broke out between two men. The men fought with such passion and intensity that the barrel was knocked on its side, spilling the burning kerosene onto the floor of the juke joint and sending the patrons fleeing into the cold night. Standing outside, the young bluesman realized that in the excitement and confusion he had forgotten his guitar, and immediately he ran back into the burning building to retrieve this most prized possession. The bluesman barely escaped the flames that night with his guitar, and the next day he learned that the fight that caused the fire, a fire that claimed the lives of two others, had been over a woman named Lucille, which, given the passion and intensity with which the two men fought, was the only thing that could have caused it. In a flash of inspiration, the young bluesman named his guitar after the woman, and has given every guitar he has played since the same name, so as to never forget her again, so, the story goes.

This is the way in which legends are born, but the true legend of this story, Riley B. King, was born much earlier, in 1925 on a plantation in Itta Bene, Mississippi. When his mother left his father, four-year- old Riley went to live with his grandmother in Kilmichael, Mississippi. Like so many of the giants of American music, Riley was first introduced to music in his church, where the preacher taught him a few chords on the guitar, but it was the music he heard coming out of his Great Aunt Mima’s Victrola that truly inspired young Riley. It was these early days of listening to the Delta Blues at Mima’s house that Riley would carry with him throughout his life, and help him to become one of the greatest musicians in American history.

But one doesn’t become a legend overnight, especially in those days when there was no American Idol or Star Search to catapult young hopefuls to stardom. Having purchased his first guitar at the age of twelve, young Riley learned to play a mishmash of the gospel songs he’d known from church and the blues he’d fallen in love with at Mima’s house. After years of playing with gospel groups and working street corners, Riley decided to focus entirely on the blues, a path that led him to Memphis, Tennessee in 1946 where he lived and practiced with his cousin, Bukka White, who had gained a reputation as a blues singer in his own right. After moving back to Mississippi for a short time, Riley returned to Memphis in 1948, and earned his first big break, playing a few radio shows as “Blues Boy” King. The popularity of these radio broadcasts landed him a steady gig playing the Sixteenth Avenue Grill, his name now shortened to B.B. King. With his popularity growing, King recorded the single “Miss Martha King” for Bullet Records. While the reviews were lackluster, the single led to King signing with RPM Records where he worked with soon-to-be legend, Sam Phillips.

During the 50s, B.B. King became one of the biggest R&B artists in the country, releasing classics such as “Mistreated Woman,” “The Other Night Blues,” “Bad Luck,” and many more. The decade also saw King release his first full-length LPs, 1958s Singin’ the Blues and 1959s The Blues on Crown Records. But even with the level of success he’d attained, B.B. King was still years away from becoming known to white audiences. The first seeds of a cross-over were planted with the release of 1965s classic live album, Live at the Regal, recorded at the Regal Theater in Chicago. That same year saw the release of the first Butterfield Blues Band album, featuring the late guitarist Mike Bloomfield, who cited B.B. King as his primary influence. King’s recognition as a master of the blues guitar was growing.

Still, B.B. King was far from a household name, a fact that would change with the release of his cover of Roy Hawkins’ “The Thrill is Gone” in 1969, which peaked at #15 on the Billboard Pop chart and led to King appearing on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and The Ed Sullivan Show. From that point, King’s popularity soared and he continued to tour and record throughout the seventies, eighties, nineties and into the new century.

Through the years King has shared the stage with artists such as The Rolling Stones, U2, Eric Clapton, Phish and just about any blues artist worth a lick. In 2000 he collaborated with Clapton on the album Riding with the King which was the biggest selling disc of his storied career and in 2003 Rolling Stone Magazine listed him at number three on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He has also been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, been awarded 14 Grammys, The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Presidential Medal of the Arts, and an Honorary Doctorate of Music from both Brown University and Yale University. Along the way he has found time to father 15 children and suffered two failed marriages, both of which contributed greatly to his blues songs, most notably the classic “Woke Up this Morning.”

In addition to the aforementioned honors (which are only a small sample of those bestowed on him throughout the years), B.B. King has been an outspoken supporter of the musical arts in public schools for years, and in 2002 he became an honorary board member of Little Kids Rock, an organization that provides music education assistance to schools throughout the country. He is also a spokesperson for the fight against Type II Diabetes, a disease he has lived with for over twenty years.

These days B.B. King doesn’t record as much as he used to, but one can still find the old bluesman on the road, stroking Lucille and making her purr, growl and sometimes screech like a wildcat up to 300 shows a year. At the age of 82, he doesn’t move like he once could, but fortunately the juke joints he plays now don’t rely on a barrel of kerosene to keep the crowd warm. He does that all by himself.

This month B.B. King will be keeping audiences in Currentland warm with his legendary brand of the blues. Don’t miss B.B. and Lucille when they visit The Tulsa Performing Arts Center on Sat. Jan. 26 at 8p.m. Tickets are $50 and $65 and are available online at www.myticketoffice.com. If you can’t make the Tulsa show, not to worry, he’ll be playing the next night, Sun. Jan. 27 at 7:30p.m. at The Eureka Springs City Auditorium in Eureka Springs, AR. Tickets are $116 for that show and can be purchased by calling (479)253-7788. That’s two legends for the price of one. And so, the story goes on.

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