B.B. Kings Best Songs: A Playlist - Daily Beast
King, who died Thursday night at age 89, was a famous blues star in an age that had mostly forgotten about the blues. And let’s not forget his extraordinary voice—King possessed one of the finest blues/R&B voices of modern times, and could have been a star solely on the basis of his singing skills. Above all, B. B. King was a tireless road warrior, bringing the blues to audiences all over the world, and sometimes playing more than 200 gigs during the course of a year. Blues music doesn’t get much radio airplay, and even a venerated king of the genre rarely appears on TV or generates impressive YouTube metrics. (1) “Every Day I Have the Blues”. If you haven’t heard B. B. King before, his live recording on November 21, 1964 at Chicago’s Regal Theater is the place to start. The whole album is electrifying, and will show you why this artist packed concert halls all over the world even as the blues faded from mainstream culture. Check out the opening track “Every Day I Have the Blues” and feel the excitement surging through the audience. This song was a staple of King’s concerts, and his version at Cook County is riveting. Here he wins over a tough audience that was certain it already knew how blue things could get. (3) “Three O’Clock Blues”. Source: www.thedailybeast.com
