One of BB King’s signature tunes is How Blue Can You Get, a perfect showcase for his lyrical soloes on “Lucille”, the famous Gibson guitar.  In this 6-ish minute version from his appearance at Farm Aid 1985, the opening solo goes for over 3 minutes, and I have a sneaking suspicion he only stops to move on to the singing section because of Lucille’s broken string.  That he then sings while restringing Lucille without missing a beat is just ridiculously amazing. The rest of the band ain’t too shabby either.

//www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/P27tTNP7SFc?hl=en_GB&version=3&rel=0

Because I’m rehearsing for an upcoming Blues show, I’m chasing up classic versions of various songs, and that’s how I found this. For anyone who has never yet played/sung the blues, I recommend it. The simple structures allow for a great deal of artistic freedom within those rules, and make for most enjoyable ensemble work because your bandmates are constantly bringing out little surprises.

Categories: arts & entertainment, fun & hobbies

Tags: music