I went to Indianola, Mississippi, in 1948 and B.B. King was in Greenville working at Ruby’s Place. He came over to introduce himself to me and we’ve been friends from that until he passed.
When he passed, they asked me to have a word to say on his behalf at the funeral. I was the last man they called up to speak about my relationship with B.B. and his life, and then someone come to me and said, ‘Listen, we’re going to take his body to Indianola. We’d like you to lead the hearse down to Indianola’.
The relationship I had with him through the years, we continued being friends for 69 years. I don’t think there’s nobody living today that knew him as long as I did.
If you saw him from 1950 until he passed, he’d maybe added a song or two to his show, but his show never changed. He didn’t try to follow disco or any of the trends that everybody was doing. That’s what he taught me.
I don’t try to change anything about what I’m doing. If you like what I’m doing, fine. If you don’t like what I’m doing, I’m good at what I do. Be good. That’s all that matters. That comes from B.B. King. He’s the first one who taught me to be myself.
- B.B. King's Blues Summit 100 is out now via KTBA Records.
- This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.
