“The night he died, I was at Buddy Guy’s club waiting for Buddy, Stevie and Clapton. Then we were told they’d all gone down”: Larry McCray on rubbing shoulders with blues royalty and playing through Joe Bonamassa’s epic rig

Larry McCray smiles as he plays his red Guild Polara.

Now in his mid-60s, Larry McCray’s career has taken him all the way from new kid on the block to elder statesman of the blues.

With mentors such as Albert King, Buddy Guy and Albert Collins, McCray was schooled in the art of pentatonic conversation like few others and learned how to make his guitar speak as profoundly as any human voice.