B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100 – Celebrating the King of the Blues with Joe Bonamassa
Keeping The Blues Alive Records – 2026
31 tracks; 2 hours, 21 minutes
This one will be hard to top as the blues album of the year. The ambitious project is a very worthy tribute to one of the blues’ Mount Rushmore figures. Last year was the centennial of King’s birth and Joe Bonamassa worked with the blessing of the King estate to produce a star-studded, three LP set covering all eras of his career. Bonamassa’s top-notch guitar slinging is the common thread throughout the record.
It features an absolute who’s who of the blues and greater musical universe, including Eric Clapton and Chaka Khan on King’s signature tune “The Thrill Is Gone”. Several generations of the blues are represented, ranging from Dion and Bobby Rush to Larkin Poe and Gary Clark, Jr. The album kicks off with perhaps the greatest Gen Z blues torch bearer, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, doing “Paying The Cost To Be The Boss”. It’s honestly hard to single-out any songs because all 31 tracks are strong. Bonamassa took the unique tact of releasing groups of five songs digitally well in advance of the actual vinyl release, to generate excitement.
One of the early singles was a standout from Michael McDonald, Susan Tedeschi, and Derek Trucks “To Know You Is To Love You”. A couple of veteran artists capture King’s signature groove accurately, Jimmie Vaughan on “Watch Yourself” and Chris Cain on “You Upset Me Baby”. The artist who bears the greatest musical and physical resemblance to King, D.K. Harrell, appears on Side F with one of the songs B.B. played the most, “Every Day I Have The Blues”. Another song that King almost always played live is covered here as a smoldering, slow shuffle by Warren Haynes, “How Blue Can You Get”.
Josh Smith co-produces with Bonamassa and teams with Marc Broussard for “Three O’Clock Blues”. Aloe Blacc’s version of “So Excited” picked up the pace and was particularly enjoyable. The song that probably comes closest to replicating King’s vocal sound is the ballad performed by George Benson, “There’s Must Be A Better World Somewhere”. The U2-written “When Love Comes To Town” is a good inclusion, reminding fans of King’s late ‘80s revival. It’s one of the harder rockers on the record, performed by Slash, Shemekia Copeland, and Myles Kennedy. Blues stars like Buddy Guy, Keb’ Mo’, Kim Wilson, Trombone Shorty, Eric Gales, Marcus King, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd with Noah Hunt all shine on their respective numbers.
Overall, the musicianship, singing, song selections, and production are exceptional, which is no surprise given Bonamassa’s history. It was recorded in several studios around the country, but largely at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles and GCR Audio in Buffalo.
The package itself is gorgeous with a black and gold theme and crown logo. There are many of photos of King at the varying stages of his career and shots of all the participating artists as well. The lead essay by noted music journalist Alan Light is a succinct summary of King’s career, ranging from his poor country upbringing in Mississippi to becoming the global blues ambassador who won 15 GRAMMYS, the National Medal of Arts, Kennedy Center Honors, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. An additional article by Light gathers the flavor of the project with quotes from several of the artists on the album.
The essay by Bonamassa is more personal, as he opened for King as a 12-year-old in 1990 in Rochester, New York, and went on to have a long relationship with the man. He calls B.B. a friend and mentor, who was as humble as he was talented. Bonamassa was quoted in the package saying, “A success for me will be if people go, ‘Wow, this is the greatest gathering of blues artists on one album in the last 50 years, if ever’.” Mission accomplished, sir.
