The B.B. King Blues Festival starring
B.B. KING / AL GREEN / BUDDY GUY
A Night of havin’ the Blues never felt so good!
His reign as King of the Blues has been as long as that of any monarch on earth. Yet B.B. King continues to wear his crown well. At age 84, he is still light on his feet, singing and playing the blues with relentless passion. Time has no apparent effect on B.B., other than to make him more popular, more cherished, more relevant than ever. Don’t look for him in some kind of semi-retirement; look for him out on the road, playing for people, or laying down tracks for his next album. B.B. King is as alive as the music he plays, and a grateful world can’t get enough of him.
Riley B.B. King is one of the greatest blues singers and guitarists of all time. For more than half a century, the “King of the Blues” and his guitar Lucille have thrilled audiences, influenced generations of guitarists and helped give the blues its special place in the American musical tradition. Since he started recording in the 1940s, he has released over fifty albums, many of them classics. B.B. continues to tour extensively, averaging over 250 concerts per year around the world. Over the years, B.B. has had two #1 R&B hits: Three O’Clock Blues and You Don’t Know Me and four #2 R&B hits: Please Love Me, You Upset Me Baby, Sweet Sixteen Part I and Don’t Answer The Door Part I.
King, a 14-time Grammy winner, scored the highest-debuting solo album of his nearly 60-year career with his latest release, “One Kind Favor.” The set, which surfaced in August of last year, debuted at No. 37 on The Billboard 200 chart. Produced by T Bone Burnett, “One Kind Favor” features covers of old blues songs that inspired King as a young man & was made to sound like it was recorded in the ’50s. Players include Dr. John on piano, Nathan East on standup bass & Jim Keltner on drums.
Al Green is touring in support of his latest release, Lay It Down. Conceived as a collaboration between the soul legend and a handful of gifted young admirers from the worlds of contemporary R&B and hip hop, the album is drawn from a series of inspired sessions that yielded the most high-spirited, funky and often lushly romantic songs of Green’s latter-day career. The album is a refreshingly old school jam, with everyone laying down the music together, face to face, heart to heart, soul to soul.
The project features the sophisticated R&B voices of singer-songwriters John Legend, Anthony Hamilton and Corinne Bailey Rae, and it was co-produced with Green by two of hip-hop’s most innovative players, drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson from the Roots and keyboardist James Poyser, the go-to guy for high-profile artists. Add in Brooklyn’s celebrated Dap-King Horns, guitarist Chalmers “Spanky” Alford and bassist Adam Blackstone, among others, and you’ve got a modern soul-music dream team, fronted by the most expressive voice in the business.
Any discussion of Buddy Guy invariably involves a recitation of his colossal musical resume and hard-earned accolades. He’s a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a chief guitar influence to rock titans like Hendrix, Clapton, Beck, and Vaughan, a pioneer of Chicago’s fabled West Side sound, and a living link to that city’s halcyon days of electric blues.
Buddy has received five Grammy Awards, 23 W.C. Handy Blues Awards (the most any artist has received), the Billboard Magazine Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, and the Presidential National Medal of Arts.
Yet despite this long list of achievements, Buddy Guy and his music remain as vital as ever. Recently, Buddy appeared on the big screen nationwide with a show-stopping performance in Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Stones concert film, Shine a Light. At the age of 72, he appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time, as part of the magazine’s “100 Greatest Guitar Songs” package.
Buy Tickets Online: Live Nation
