“I remember he had these massive hands… I said, ‘Mr King, my name is Joanne and I’m 13, and I think I’m going to be a blues guitarist’”: Joanne Shaw Taylor’s life-changing first meeting with the great B.B. King

Joanne Shaw Taylor pictured with a Les Paul [left] and B.B. King, taking solo on Lucille at the Chicago Theater in 1991.

I played on Bad Case Of Love. You’re kind of spoiled for choice because I was in early, obviously, being part of the label. I knew of the project before they approached their wishlist of artists.

Thinking back to the first time I met B.B., it was actually one of the first gigs my parents took me to when I was really getting into blues. He played at the NEC in Birmingham, and he was handing out guitar picks at the end of the night.