B.B. King at 100: Remembering the King of the Blues on September 16

Special to WTWZ

September 16 would have marked the 100th birthday of B.B. King, a milestone that offers the perfect moment to reflect on a life and career that reshaped music forever. B.B. King didn’t just play the guitar—he made it speak. From his earliest recordings in the late 1940s, his signature vibrato could turn a single note into an entire conversation, a heartbeat, a story. While other guitarists raced through scales, King lingered, letting the music breathe, letting emotion lead the way. In his hands, the guitar became a second voice, carrying all the joy, pain, and longing that the blues could hold.

Some stories follow an artist forever, and B.B. King’s is inseparable from one of the most famous legends in music. During a nightclub performance, a fire broke out after a fight erupted over a woman named Lucille. King ran back into the smoke and flames to rescue his guitar. From that day forward, every Gibson he played carried her name. Lucille was never just wood and strings; she was a reminder of risk, of courage, and of the intimate dialogue between musician and music. That spirit still echoes in the hands of guitarists like Slash and Gary Clark Jr., who recognize in Lucille a symbol as much as an instrument.

King’s reach extended far beyond the Mississippi Delta. Eric Clapton once called him “the most important artist the blues has ever produced,” a statement few would dispute. When British rock swept across the world in the 1960s, it was King’s records that young guitarists studied, learning to balance technical skill with emotional depth. His playing brought raw, human feeling to rock music, proving that the blues could move hearts as much as it could move fingers.

The lessons of B.B. King weren’t confined to rock. In Nashville, his phrasing and emotional storytelling influenced artists like Willie Nelson and Vince Gill. Blues and country, while separated by style, shared the same language of heartache and hope. King taught that one sustained note could express more than a flurry of fast ones, that emotion mattered more than flash, and that authenticity in music was timeless.

Even a century after his birth, King’s recordings feel immediate. They have not aged because they were never about trends—they were about truth. The weight of a note, the space between phrases, the gentle cry of a string bending in King’s hands—these are lessons that continue to resonate. Festivals, tribute albums, viral covers, and intimate jam sessions all carry whispers of King’s influence, proving that genuine artistry never fades.

Marking B.B. King’s 100th birthday is not only a celebration of his life but also a reminder of how his artistry shaped modern music. His guitar taught rock musicians to dig deeper, encouraged soul singers to pour more emotion into their voices, and offered hip-hop storytellers a model for truth-telling rooted in experience. Every note he ever pulled from Lucille still reverberates through today’s music, an enduring legacy worthy of the man hailed as the King of the Blues.