BB King Recieves Medal of Freedom

BB King has been awarded the Medal of Freedom. At 81 BB is starting to finally slow down. I know he is on his final tour of the US but I am not sure if he will do a world tour. Which would be a shame as it would be nice to see him a final time.

A famous review that remarked that BB would sing and then Lucille (his guitar) would sing and they are still apt words indeed. BB’s sound is unmistakable and one of the greatest and sweetest sounds ever in popular music. One of the sad things about modern blues is the reliance on guitar pyrotechnics (of which I was guilty when I was younger) and the lack of attention to how BB approached the blues. I’ll never forget a jam session where I was chatting with another guitar slinger (who ala Keef had his cigarette resting on the tuning peg) who dismissed BB as being a ‘gentleman’ of the blues while trying to convince me Stevie Ray Vaughan was the best thing ever to grace 6 blue strings.

Not to dismiss the great Stevie Ray but this chap obviously had never really listened to the blues.