JD: Hi, I’m Jody Denberg, program director with 107.1 KGSR Radio, Austin, Texas. And with me is the winner of countless Grammy Awards, countless W.C. Handy Awards, a member of the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, a recipient for the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Kennedy Center Honoree, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the holder of four honorary doctorates and most recently the recipient of the Blues Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the King of the Blues, Mr. B.B. King. Welcome, B.B.

BB: Thank you Jody. Thanks very much, I was wondering how in the world would you say all of that. But that sounds good.

JD: Tell me how the idea came about for you to do your new album of duets, Deuces Wild?

BB: Well, it’s a combination of things that happened. I’ve wanted to do this ever since I started into show business. But believe me, I talked to my manager, Sid Seidenberg, and we talked about people that we thought was good for the album to work with me, if they would. People that wrote—to be honest with you, there’s nobody I didn’t want. But only some said yes, and some said they would if they had the time, and then Sid started to talk to MCA and set it up and it went from there, I wish it was my idea, but it wasn’t.

JD: Well, were you or Sid influenced by the album that Frank Sinatra did, the duets record there?

BB: No, I didn’t think of that, I didn’t. I don’t know if he did or not, but I didn’t think of it at all.

JD: You chose different partners this time around than you did on a recent record that you did called The Blues Summit.

BB: That was, as you just said, The Blues Summit. This one is different.

JD: How did you match your partners this time with the specific songs?

BB: We really allowed them to do this mostly on their own. We submitted songs to them, songs that we thought would be good, but gave them the chance to pick the songs that they would accept themselves.

JD: Now, obviously, you’ve been singing The Thrill is Gone, which you did here with Tracy Chapman, and Paying the Cost to be the Boss, which you did here with the Rolling Stones, for years and years. Did singing these songs with other people get you re-energized?

BB: Oh, of course, of course, Jody. Yes. Yes, it did. Can you imagine Paying The Cost To Be the Boss and then singing with Mick Jagger? Of course it energizes you. Yes. JD: Were your collaborations in the studio, were they—were some of them face to face, or were these long-distance duets?

BB: I’m happy to tell you that every duet, every duet where the singing was, I was there. Every one of them. Only one I wasn’t there when they really put it together was Joe Cocker, but he was there when I put my part on it. So I still had the energy from looking at him and trying to meet his approval and everything on that one. But everybody else, every one, I was there.

JD: Now, when I first put the disc into the player, Deuces Wild – the first song is your duet with Van Morrison.

BB: Loved it.

JD: And the strings are coming in and you’ve never shied away from bringing strings into the blues.

BB: Hey, strings have been around since King David. Why not use them? Yes, I love them, I love the sound of them.

JD: Did you ever get any hubbub from any of the blues purists who said, "Hey, B.B., you can’t put the strings on a blues song"?

BB: There wasn’t that when I made Three O’Clock Blues. I’m concerned about what they think. But I have to do what I have to do. I’m the guy that’s named B.B. King and I have to play B.B. King’s feelings. The bosses, I think, usually are the people that buy the CDs. They’re the ones that determine whether I did or didn’t do a good job. And, of course, nationally, MCA says, "Well, we like this" or "We don’t like it." And if they don’t like it, they won’t ship it out. And I love them for that.

JD: We’re talking about different styles. You are obviously referred to as a Blues man. But Jazz, Gospel, Pop, Swing, they’re all in the music. I guess you didn’t ever pay much mind to labels?

BB: No, not that much, because the first musical notations – a lot of people don’t know it, but I do read music, but very slowly. But the first musical notation I learned about was Country music. I learned how to play You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine. I learned to play that musically – musical notations, I should say, long before I could play it in Three O’Clock Blues.

JD: As a matter of fact, on the new album, there is actually a rap with Heavy D.

BB: I never thought I’d do that. I never thought I’d ever be able to do any rap with any Rap artist. But Heavy D was so good. He was so good. He’s a very talented young man. I really enjoyed working with him.

JD: And I think you actually say on the song that you had always wanted to try a Rap.

BB: Since I heard it, yes. But, you know, to me Rap started back with Louis Jordan and a lot of the people way back there. The new guys with the Rap is just a new addition to it, as far as I’m concerned. But these guys like Heavy D are so talented. They are so talented. So, yes, I’ve always wanted to.

JD: And I remember last year, speaking of rapping and records with sampling and stuff. There was a hit by a group called the Primitive Radio Gods that samples your song, How Blue Can You Get?

BB: Right

JD: And a few years back, you had a hit with U2 on When Love Comes to Town.

BB: Right.

JD: Seems like you’re always trying to reach new listeners. Is there a message that you’re trying to get across to them beyond keeping the Blues alive?

BB: Yes. BB King is still alive and well. Yes. I want them to know that. And then, you know, when the radio stations – that’s why you’re such a great program director, you see, because you recognize all these things. And I want everybody else to recognize it as you do.

JD: Thank you. Do you feel like you’re on a mission to bring the Blues to the world?

BB: Yes. I took it on my own. I took the title on my own. A lot of people have called me the Ambassador of Blues. But I don’t have that title yet. I’m going to have to speak to the President soon. By the way, he sent me a telegram – a fax, rather, congratulating me on this award the Blues Foundation just gave me. So I kind of – somebody made a crack and it stuck with me, I like it. Said, "BB King have friends in high places." I love that.

JD: Maybe we should get you an official title, a government proclamation for Ambassador of the Blues.

BB: Yes, right. You’ve got it. That’s it. You want to help me?

JD: I think you can help yourself better than I can.

BB: All right.

JD: But, you know, as you said, you are on a mission to bring the Blues to the world. And, you know, I figure you’re good for doing this maybe another 40, 50 years. But—

BB: Let’s don’t go quite that far.

JD: Okay. But I think something that’s promising is that, once again, there’s another generation of Blues players coming, like Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Jonny Lang.

BB: Oh, yes.

JD: Does that convince you that the Blues will always flourish?

BB: Yes. Yes, it does. Two of the most talented young men that you’ll ever meet. Fantastic. Not only that they are great musicians, these guys are great people. You know, you meet a lot of people and they don’t seem whether they want to speak to you or you look like dirt to them or something. These guys are not like that. They’re concerned, very concerned. You are people, as we use the word. You are people to them. They enjoy the music. And they’re not just playing it to be impressive. They play it because they like it.

JD: Now, speaking of another of the younger generation of Blues men, I saw you in Austin, Texas, about a year ago at a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan.

BB: One of my favorite guys. JD: Did he have a similar vibe to Jonny and Kenny?

BB: Yes. Well, you see, when I first me Stevie, I met him through his brother. And after meeting him, I should say, our communication started to be more like a father/son relationship. So we were very close, very, very close. He used to come to me if he had problems. He used to call me. We talked. I love the guy.

JD: B.B., can you remember when you discovered the Blues and who was playing them?

BB: No, that’s a little bit before I can remember. But when I was around five or six I can remember, I had an aunt like a lot of the young people are today that would buy records. See, we didn’t have MCA to do what they’re doing today – like they are doing today, I should say. Only time we got a chance to hear music was on the Victrola. I also remember that we would wind this thing up. It had a handle on it, you wind it up. Or if you went to town on a Saturday, they had the little, what we called, Juke Boxes. Didn’t look exactly like the big players you see today in the big establishments. But this one you sat on a table. Nickel you play one. Dime you’d get – a dime you get three, I think. And a quarter you’d get six. It had the three slots you put the money in. This is what I’m talking about. That‘s the only time I ever heard music electronically. And it – oh, man, it sounds – I can’t describe the sound it was to me, because where we lived we didn’t have electricity; so we only had – and as I started to say, my aunt would buy these records and she would bring them home,. Very thick 78 (RPM) records. You had to be very careful how you handled them. If you didn’t, they would break. And if you dropped one, oh, my God, 75 cents gone. Or 35, whatever it was at the time.

That I can remember, going over to my aunt’s house, listening to the records she had. And some of my favorites were the people that she bought, like Blind Lemon, Lonnie Johnson and, oh, Louis Armstrong, people like that she had. And I was a good boy all the time around my aunt because she’d let me play it if I was good. Believe me, I stayed good, I could have been a minister of the church around her as good as I was so I could play the records.

JD: Did you already know how to play You Are My Sunshine as you were saying earlier - were you learning notation, or—

BB: No, I didn’t really start trying to play the guitar until I was about 11, I guess. Between nine and 11.

JD: Because your guitar playing, your style these days, it’s so distinct. It’s identifiable. It’s got a big stamp on it that says, "B.B." The bent notes, the left-hand vibrato. There must be a time you can remember when that was just formative, when it wasn’t what it is today, of course.

BB: Yes, yes. I remember when – I still remember not being able to do everything I want to on the guitar. But I always thought, and I still do today, that I think they use the word "pizzicato," something like that, which means they go "tick tick," you know, doesn’t – the sound doesn’t linger long. But I always felt that the guitar should be able to be an extension of a sound maybe like your voice or something. They tell me that the violin is the nearest thing to a human voice. The guitar to me, should be close to it. And I started to listen to that trying to play. Another thing, my speech, you notice, my diction, are horrible. I stayed on the radio for about six or seven years, but I – they still didn’t learn me to talk. Well, I think I could get my point over pretty good. That’s why they kept me on. I would have been out of work a long time. But I felt that the guitar should be an extension of when I sing because I talk slowly. My words don’t come out as I wish them to all the time. So the guitar is sort of like a crutch. It sort of helps me out a little bit. You know how you see people walking with walking sticks? That’s – this is my walking stick.

JD: Now, you mentioned your days in the radio. Obviously, you've told this story before, but is that when you got your nickname, B.B., when you were working in radio?

BB: Yes, yes, it is. They used to call me the Beale Street Blues Boy, sometimes the Boy from Beale Street. But however it was still the Bs there.

JD: And that leads to another story I know you’ve told, but I must ask you because we’re going to have this now forever: How did your nickname for your guitar, "Lucille," come about?

BB: Well, at this time, I was in Memphis. We’re talking about ’49, 1949 for you that – well, okay somebody wants to make fun out of it. 1949. I used to play many places that could pick up the signal from the radio station that I worked because they would hear me and they would ask me to come out. And usually, we do what I just learned a few years ago to call, "four wall." That is, whoever came in and paid, you’d get some of the money., Not all of it, some of it. And this particular place was called Twist, Arkansas, was one of the places we played quite often. And it used to get quite cold in Twist in winter time. So they would take something like a big garbage pail, set it in the middle of the dance floor, half fill it with kerosene, they would light that fuel, and that’s what we’d use for heat. You know, when you’re young, you’re daring. People would be dancing around and never disturb it.

But one night two guys start to fight. One knocked the other one over on this container. When they did, it spilled on the floor. When it spilled on the floor, it looked like a river of fire. And everybody started running for the front door, including B.B. King. But when I got on the outside, I realized then that I’d left my guitar inside. I went back for it. When I did, the building started to collapse around me. So I almost lost my life trying to save my guitar. But the next morning we found that these guys that were fighting were fighting about a lady that worked in the little nightclub there. And I never did meet her, though. But I learned that her name was Lucille. I named my guitar Lucille to remind me never to do a thing like that again. That’s how it came about.

JD: And to this day, is – anytime you have an instrument cradled in your arm, is that Lucille?

BB: That’s Lucille. In fact, I’ll tell you the truth, it felt so good, the Lucille model, that any of the models that I ever pick up seem like it’s the regular Lucille.

JD: Now, we’re speaking of women. Are there specific women who come to your mind when you sing certain of your songs?

BB: Yes. Women. I love ladies, guy. I love them.

JD: I just thought maybe—

BB: I love them as one. I love them.

JD: I thought that maybe, you know, on The Thrill Is Gone there was one certain woman you thought of and then on another song there would be specific women tied to specific songs.

BB: I’d be in trouble then because I sing many songs. But, no, I love ladies. They are so pretty. God, there’s nothing prettier, except money – sorry. I love them both.

JD: Do you have any favorites amongst your albums? You’ve issued so many over the years. Are there any that stand out?

BB: Well, the critics usually say that Live at the Regal is the best I’ve ever done, and I never argue with my critics when they’re positive.

JD: They also mention sometimes, I guess, Together for the First Time

BB: Together for the First Time, I think, was – I think it was great – a great album or CD or whatever it was called at the time. The one with Bobby Bland. I thought that – Bobby is one of my favorite singers. Not only that, he’s a good friend. And at the same time, we were on the same label at the same time, so it was easier to work with him at that time. In fact, I loved working with him. We got some bad press, I think, on it at one part. But the funny thing, it went, you know – whoever was giving us the bad press saying we should go back to do whatever we were doing before we started recording, I thank them because the album went well. I’m hoping that that person will, you know , do it again. Maybe I’ll get lucky again.

JD: Well, you’ve always liked having collaborators. We’re just speaking of Bobby Blue Bland and, of course, the new album Deuces Wild. Have most of the players that are out on the road with you been with you for a long time?

BB: Yeah, the guys in my band have been with me – one’s been with me the longest is the trumpet player named James Bolden. A Texan, but the way. He’s been with me almost 20 years. It will be 20 years January.

JD: And you’ve worked with your manager, Sid, for many years as well?

BB: Oh, yeah. Seems like it’s only been two or three years. We’ve only been together about 30 some years. It’s been a beautiful relationship on my side.

JD: Maybe that makes it easier for you to be out on the road 275 nights out of the year.

BB: Well, yes. It—let me tell you, Jody, you see, guys like myself – coming from Indianola, Mississippi, plantation, you’re used to seeing cotton grow, picking it, corn and stuff. Some of the early years we had to plant potatoes so we could have something to eat in the early spring. I remember at that time we used to go hunting, like rabbits and stuff like, and we would – like you go in the deli today and you find smoked salmon or something like that, we would smoke the rabbits and hang them up. That was the only way we had of preserving them. I guess that’s a good word to use. I’m trying to say, we had nothing but that. But I didn’t feel poor, you know. I felt good that we were able to get that. But you never missed sometimes, the word goes, what you never had. I never had a life as I have it today. And now, that – there’s a possibility of having things that I’d love to have, an old truck I enjoy. I’ve got several guitars. I’ve got a few things that I like to look at, like computers and things. So I enjoy working for it is what I’m trying to tell you. So that’s another reason I like to work today.

JD: But you live in Las Vegas. How often do you get to visit your home?

BB: Not as much as I would like. But when I do visit it, I have a good time. I enjoy it. In fact, I’m just coming off – don’t tell anybody – I’m just coming off of a month, a whole month of doing what I want to do. Oh, I had a ball, Jody. And so I’m just now starting back to work and I’m eager to get started.

JD: Do you manage to see your Blues clubs in Los Angeles and Memphis?

BB: Not as much as I would like, but usually we try to play them at least once a year, whenever possible.

JD: With the schedule that you keep, does that preclude you from ever getting married again?

BB: We don’t want to talk about things like that right now. Yes, I would love to be married again. Sure, I would. I think the happiest days of my life is when I was married. But thinking as I do at this time, because I’m single – I mean, the reason I am single is because my work has taken me away and around so much away from them. So you don’t want to make the same mistake again. When I decide to get married this time, Lucille and I are going to stay home for a while.

JD: Well, that would be your gain and the world’s loss, I guess.

BB: Not that we’ll stop. I’ll never stop until the good Lord says it’s enough, unless my health gets bad.

JD: We were speaking a few moments ago about your roots on the cotton plantation in Mississippi. And these days, of course, you’re an international ambassador of the Blues. Last year, you had an autobiography come out and a CD ROM. What kind of emotions came up when you were looking back, looking backwards on your career and your life?

BB: Parts of it I’m very happy. The parts that I’ve tried to do the best I could do, play the music as best as I could, I’m proud of that because it was no hold back. It’s never, go on the stage anytime and say, "Oh, I’m going to do this and then I’m going to get out." That’s never been. I don’t think I ever will be. But when I’m let down a bit as not being able to do a lot of things that I should have been able to do by practicing more, paying more attention to what I was doing musically, I think I could have been better, and, of course, my early years, I came out of high school in the 10th grade. I could have done better than that. Wished I had gone to college and learned more about the music. Music theories and all of that, I’m a little sad about that. But I hope that the young fans or the people that like me, you know, will appreciate what I have done. I’m proud of that, I think is what I’m trying to say. But I could have done so much more, I believe. And I’m still alive. Still time to try some more.

JD: I was reading the booklet for your Box Set, King of the Blues. And it described you as latterly a non-smoker, almost vegetarian and almost a non-drinker. I mean, how did you avoid the pitfalls and the excesses that brought down so many other great players?

BB: I had a lot of good friends around me. A lot of people to talk with. Nice people like yourself. And one guide sitting over there. He’s taught me and helped me with a lot of things. But then I think – I’d like to say this to the young fans, though, even being in the crowd, in the groups, you know when there’s something that’s not so good. So if there’s too much smoke in the room, walk out.

JD: BB, I thank you for taking the time to talk to me today. I enjoy your music and the new album Deuces Wild. And I listen to it and, you know, you think, a new B.B. King album, he’s been doing these for 40 or 50 years. What’s he going to do different? And then I came across a place you once said that there was a sound you were looking for all these years.

BB: Right.

JD: Have you found it?

BB: No, but if I do, I’ll let you know. I’ll keep trying.

JD: Thank you.

(end of interview)