Vinyl of the Week - 4 OCTOBER 2020

Live at the Regal, Muddy Waters

This week I’ve chosen an album by one of the most celebrated and iconic blues artists of all time. B.B. King had a career that spanned seven decades, consisting of hundreds of recordings and thousands of performances to millions of people. His impact on modern music is undeniable and so many artists list him as a huge influence on their work. There are so many stories and facts about B.B. King that it’s hard to write something that does justice to such a prolific musician. I chose this record, ‘B.B. King Live At The Regal’, because he once said it was his favourite recording of his work. And when you listen to the emotion and soul that he puts into this performance, you can see why. But the B.B. King story I want to share this week is actually about his constant musical partner. That ‘partner’ went by the name Lucille, the name B.B. gave to his guitar. There were quite a few Lucille’s over the years but they were all black Gibson’s from the ES-345/355 model type. B.B. even had a song about his Lucille and how she came to be. It was 1949 and he was playing at a dance hall in Arkansas. Two men started fighting and knocked over an open-fuel heater, setting the venue on fire. Realising his precious guitar was inside, B.B. ran into the burning building to save it. He later found out that the two men had been fighting over a woman named Lucille. From that night, he named the guitar and every one after it ‘Lucille’ to remind him never to do something as stupid as run inside a burning building ever again. The way B.B. played the guitar was such a wonderful thing to behold. Never too many notes, never too flashy, but always full of raw emotion and a huge amount of feeling. No wonder he is regarded as one of the greatest guitarists of all time. So here’s to B.B. King and his beloved Lucille. Definitely a class act - DS