Joe Bonamassa & George Benson Talk Blues and the Legacy of B.B. King

[SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to hear your favorite artist on WFPK from wherever you are. [SPEAKER_00]: Listen on your smart speaker, live stream from our website at WFPK.org from Louisville Public Media. [SPEAKER_03]: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no [SPEAKER_01]: and welcome to another edition of Kyle Meredith with.

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[SPEAKER_01]: Just an example of what you get when you subscribe to the Kyle Meredith with podcast. [SPEAKER_01]: Let's be Kyle here today. [SPEAKER_01]: It's a very fun special episode to get to our legends. [SPEAKER_01]: Joe Bonamasa and George Benson are going to be here to talk about the massive, massive trippy album called BB King Blues Summit 100.

[SPEAKER_01]: It's a 40 artist 32 song celebration of BB King that pulls in everyone from Eric Clapton to Cheryl Crow Marcus King Tundzmore. [SPEAKER_01]: And the two guitar grades are going to trade some stories about their personal history with BB, from Benson being called his favorite guitarist, Tabata Masa touring with him at just 12 years old, while digging into what made BBs playing songwriting in stage presence so singular.

[SPEAKER_01]: Along the way, they're going to get into the overlap between blues and jazz, Benson's breakthrough with the masquerade and the challenge of honoring a legend without trying to outdo them. [SPEAKER_01]: And then it really gets fun when they just start interviewing each other, so all that and more as we talk about BB King Blues Summit 100, it's Kyle Meredith with Joe Bottomasa and George Benson.

[SPEAKER_01]: How are you doing? [SPEAKER_01]: BB King's blues summit 100, this incredible double tribute album that Joe, you put out and everything. [SPEAKER_01]: It is incredible. [SPEAKER_01]: Not only to celebrate one of the greatest artists of all time, but the guest list that you've pulled in for this seems like it's a mountain of itself.

[SPEAKER_01]: Let's just start with the obvious question, Joe, what made you want to put this together? [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I started, it was, it was brought to my attention in, uh, the end of 2024 that, um, Amy King would be turning 125. [SPEAKER_02]: And I said, well, obviously, somebody's going to be doing something for his Centennial.

[SPEAKER_02]: And, um, as we kind of got towards the first of the year, and I kind of asked [SPEAKER_02]: And so we need to do something, you know, and then, you know, so we started and then started cutting tracks and and we started calling people like our like our guest here George Benson and George was nice enough to come in on it and I mean we've had, you know, you know, shot the con and are clapped in and Derek and Susan.

[SPEAKER_02]: of Michael McDonald and the list goes on and on. [SPEAKER_02]: So before you know it, nine months later, we make the announcement of the record on his birthday. [SPEAKER_02]: And we have 40 guests and 32 songs. [SPEAKER_02]: So it was definitely a laborer love and big shout out to Josh Smith, who was my co-pretty son on this and really made that happen while I was off doing other projects.

[SPEAKER_02]: George Benson was one of them and we've had so many you know, I I wanted to see if Eric, you know, Clapton would be interested and he was and and you know I just wanted to reach out to people that I knew either rolled with him, knew him, you know And you know, I also want to reach out to younger people like Marcus King and and King Fishing Gromron [SPEAKER_02]: and you know, D.K.

[SPEAKER_02]: Harrell who didn't never got to me, Mr. King, but ultimately, you know, you know, loved and respected him greatly as we all do. [SPEAKER_01]: You know, George, how far is your history go back with B.B.? [SPEAKER_01]: Do you remember when you all first, uh, became aware of each other? [SPEAKER_03]: Oh yeah, I was working in Harrell in New York.

[SPEAKER_03]: at a place called Mittens Playhouse that was considered the greatest jazz club in American history. [SPEAKER_03]: And the guys in his band, they were working at the Apollo theater and they went back each night because after they came and went around town, the check was going on in a table.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so they saw me and they told me, man, we heard this kid. [SPEAKER_03]: I think I was 22 then. [SPEAKER_03]: And, uh, baby said, uh, I don't believe you, so they said, you come down here if you want it. [SPEAKER_03]: So they came back the next night and they told them again, no, baby, you gotta come down here to skip play.

[SPEAKER_03]: And so he came down. [SPEAKER_03]: And it was a really interesting dialogue that went with that. [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if I was mentioning all that. [SPEAKER_03]: But from that moment on, I always liked BB King. [SPEAKER_03]: I could see his personality shining through all. [SPEAKER_03]: Everything he did, his personality shound right through it.

[SPEAKER_03]: And he was a very acceptable kind of guy. [SPEAKER_01]: And Joe is just telling me off Michael beforehand. [SPEAKER_01]: I was like, at some point, BB says that your his favorite guitarist, [SPEAKER_03]: I'm amazed that he, well, I shouldn't say a man because he always said that to me. [SPEAKER_03]: But you know, I think the guy's just talking, you know, but it was still a treat or an incredible thing that he would say that.

[SPEAKER_03]: It gave me quite an encouragement through my career to think about that. [SPEAKER_01]: And maybe I'm, you know, semantics right here, split in hairs or whatever, but, but in one sense, we're sort of talking about two worlds, more of the jazz side of guitar and more on the blues side of guitar, but really, like, how far are those aparts?

[SPEAKER_01]: You know, maybe specifically when we're talking about BB King and George Benson. [SPEAKER_03]: It can't get no further apart than that. [SPEAKER_03]: But having mutual respect though is there on both sides, you know, because when I hear BBK, I know I'm listening at the best, you know, and when you play, you just just not say everybody in the theater out.

[SPEAKER_03]: And that's what music is all about communicating, you know, getting the point across. [SPEAKER_03]: and he always did that. [SPEAKER_03]: So I was always very proud of him and very proud to be at one of his shows. [SPEAKER_03]: I was wondering when he signed contracts with Joe, the great promoter in New York, not a fact, I was part of his reason why he signed.

[SPEAKER_03]: I said, well, he didn't want to sign. [SPEAKER_03]: He said, no, George, you said I've been making an all my life on my own. [SPEAKER_03]: Working these clubs and working in these theaters. [SPEAKER_03]: He said, and nobody got these gigs for me. [SPEAKER_03]: I got him myself. [SPEAKER_03]: I said, but no, Joe is a great promoter.

[SPEAKER_03]: He said, he can put you places you, you can't put yourself. [SPEAKER_03]: Like Johnny Clarkson shot. [SPEAKER_03]: And that's the first thing he did. [SPEAKER_03]: He put him on the Johnny Clarkson show and be the King's like changed overnight. [SPEAKER_03]: You know, because now he became my house whole world in a very short time.

[SPEAKER_03]: He just what he needed. [SPEAKER_03]: Because people already loved him. [SPEAKER_03]: Everybody heard him loved him. [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll be right back right after this. [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back. [SPEAKER_01]: It's Kyle Mears with Joe Bottomasa and George Benson. [SPEAKER_01]: Joe as well, I mean, because what your history goes back to when you were, what I remember reading 12?

[SPEAKER_02]: Well, I met him when I was 12. [SPEAKER_02]: It was 1990. [SPEAKER_02]: And I got booked to open up for him. [SPEAKER_02]: And that was my introduction. [SPEAKER_02]: He watched my show. [SPEAKER_02]: And he was very nice and complimentary. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, the kind of intersection between blues and jazz where you were talking about earlier.

[SPEAKER_02]: I would notice that like, you know, when I started to do shows with BB, especially on the faster numbers like the jump blues, he would throw some jazz riffs and stuff in there that I was like, he's getting that from somewhere, then I read an article, he mentioned you, George, and it was like, I'm like, now I get it, he wanted to have that facility, [SPEAKER_02]: And then when you talk about BB King, I mean, like you have to talk about his time in Las Vegas, sit side and bird, you know, brought him to Vegas, and you know, that's where he got on the radar of Frank Sinatra.

[SPEAKER_02]: You know, and there's great bills at the, you know, that, like, I don't know what was the sands or one of those because Cino's and it's like, you know, Frank Sinatra headlining then the next night we BB King would check Benny or somebody and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, [SPEAKER_02]: he agrees to himself into that the rat pack kind of scene and it was Sinatra who said BB King's welcome in any casino because there was still that segregation nonsense going on you know in the 60s and 70s.

[SPEAKER_02]: And it was Frank that was like, he's a friend of mine. [SPEAKER_02]: He's welcome anywhere on this town, and that really helped him, you know, find a different audience and get a more of a pop audience at the time. [SPEAKER_03]: Yep. [SPEAKER_03]: He was a wonderful fellow, and everybody that heard of knew that.

[SPEAKER_03]: They never judged him on what he was talking about. [SPEAKER_03]: They just didn't buy. [SPEAKER_03]: you know, his playing and his playing spoke volumes, you know, was like listening at the best of his kind. [SPEAKER_03]: We thought we heard blues before, but we didn't hear it from blues boy.

[SPEAKER_03]: So he spoke a little bit down the earth and most cast them and it didn't Try to mingle to get tired with the vocal so much that it they began to confuse each other It was very logical and it's reproached to that play a little bit saying a little bit. [SPEAKER_03]: Play a little bit saying a little bit [SPEAKER_03]: And I think that was a great approach because there was never any confusion about who he was and what he was trying to represent.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think that says also a lot, you know, as we talk about the hallmarks of BB King, you know, it's so easy to talk about that guitar. [SPEAKER_01]: But George, what you're also talking about is just him as a songwriter, which probably doesn't get celebrated in the same kind of way.

[SPEAKER_03]: Well, it was a brilliant man, and high IQ people didn't really appreciate that, but it's like he was very much up there. [SPEAKER_03]: But he didn't prefer to be no intellect, it's just something that he was, and so he spoke to people. [SPEAKER_03]: And as he spoke, the intellectual side of him came out, and he gave good advice, you know, so I was always there to get some of that good advice, so he changed my way of thinking.

[SPEAKER_03]: I got a chance to play when we were 20. [SPEAKER_03]: We went up to Boston and played on the TV show Live, a PBS special. [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know what happened to it, but I'm gonna move on to it. [SPEAKER_02]: George, I always wanted to ask you, when you, when you, when you went solo after you're playing with Jack McDuffin all that, when did you find your singing voice?

[SPEAKER_02]: Did it, did it, did it happen? [SPEAKER_02]: Naturally, or did you have to work at it? [SPEAKER_02]: Because you, you're one of those natural singers that [SPEAKER_02]: The tone of your speaking voice is kind of like the way BBK was the tone of your speaking voice was a natural just a natural extension of when you said and you're like I was wondering like when when did you find that I'm like one of the most iconic singing voices of pop music is George Benson I'm like I wanted like when did when did you find that [SPEAKER_03]: Well, nobody liked my voice from the jazz world because they didn't like no singing unless you were Ella Fitzgerald, you know, or somebody that's prior to an opera, but they didn't appreciate me very much until Tommy Leppoon would found the song this month's great, something I could lean into.

[SPEAKER_03]: You know, and expressed the way I wanted to, then they began to see the importance of my involvement in the song. [SPEAKER_03]: I poured everything I had into it, although it was only one take, because I knew I wasn't going to give the second chance. [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, the woman was determined to destroy it.

[SPEAKER_03]: He didn't want any vocals on that album. [SPEAKER_03]: But anyway, you know, that's all your things go in life. [SPEAKER_03]: You don't know what's going to happen next in music. [SPEAKER_03]: That's the first significant, because of the number one record and it was a Grammy winner. [SPEAKER_03]: So, and it was on the album Weezing, which was full of fantastic instruments, the only vocal on the album.

[SPEAKER_03]: So, it had a lot of distinctions, and I'm glad it was the only vocal on the end, nothing else to compare it. [SPEAKER_03]: And then I didn't have to suffer through that criticism. [SPEAKER_01]: Well, for this album, I mean, you all landed on the song there must be a better world somewhere.

[SPEAKER_01]: How did you all make it to that one? [SPEAKER_02]: I think I think, I think Josh and I thought of that song specifically for George. [SPEAKER_02]: You know, melodically it's the most, you know, it's not just a straight ahead blues, it's got a great melody and has some harmonically [SPEAKER_02]: you know more harmonically challenging changes and and and we just thought it would be a great you know a great song for for George is saying it and it is and it's like you know I mean you nailed it and and you know I mean it'd be with such a great singer and you know a lot of those songs were really challenging for her [SPEAKER_02]: the people that participate on this record, but you know, you know, sometimes you need an icon to sing an icon.

[SPEAKER_02]: And that's why it's probably laying on shock and consing in the throat is gone and George Benson and you need those, you need those to kind of, you know, do it justice. [SPEAKER_02]: Sure. [SPEAKER_03]: I got you. [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you, Muffin. [SPEAKER_01]: And we'll be right back right up to this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back. [SPEAKER_01]: It's Kyle Mears with Joe Bautamasa and George Benson. [SPEAKER_01]: Well, George, how did you find your way into that song? [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I know you want to give it a little bit of something your own. [SPEAKER_01]: But there's a line. [SPEAKER_01]: What was the line?

[SPEAKER_01]: Are there any bars left? [SPEAKER_03]: No, I wasn't trying to give it my own. [SPEAKER_03]: I was trying to give it the BB King Swagger. [SPEAKER_03]: I wanted to, but that's hard to do because BB King would. [SPEAKER_03]: There's only one BB King. [SPEAKER_03]: You know, so I tried to make every bar sound like it was brought forth by the upbeat king and that was not easy.

[SPEAKER_03]: And I thought about this voice with all of the cracks and you know, nobody sang. [SPEAKER_03]: Nobody sang quite like him. [SPEAKER_03]: And so I was stuck with that kind of thing going on. [SPEAKER_01]: It seemed like it's not too big of a jump. [SPEAKER_01]: Like the album that you put out a few years ago, walking in New Orleans, where you kind of left off with that record into this.

[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: Absolutely good to record, too. [SPEAKER_03]: Because Chuck Berry was, I mean, it was a... That's domino, right? [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, he was so talented. [SPEAKER_03]: And he was a great songwriter. [SPEAKER_03]: Whoever was writing knows songs to him.

[SPEAKER_03]: They wrote the right song, they fit him beautifully. [SPEAKER_03]: And he really handled them all with masters touch. [SPEAKER_03]: So, I didn't know how that album would come out either because I had very stolen be the album based on blues. [SPEAKER_03]: I'm starting to get used to that, Joe.

[SPEAKER_03]: I think you don't mess me up, man. [SPEAKER_03]: Joe, you don't mess me up, man. [SPEAKER_02]: I'll tell you, but I don't remember getting reports when you did the Chuck Berry stuff with Kevin Shirley. [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm like, I'm like George Benson doing Chuck Berry and Fats down and I'm like, I'm like, this is wild, but it came out great.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean those songs really suit your voice and your playing. [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it's, you know, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. [SPEAKER_03]: Can't miss a name now. [SPEAKER_02]: No, no, it's okay. [SPEAKER_02]: No, it's okay, it's okay. [SPEAKER_02]: But that was the thing that I realized about doing this BB King record was how many great songs BB had.

[SPEAKER_02]: It was really, I mean, it's, you know, the artist sometimes, without the song, it's, it's, it's, it's an uphill battle, but, you know, he, BB had great songs. [SPEAKER_02]: Now, you know, as evidence of going where we, we cut 32. [SPEAKER_03]: you know and we still have stuff up so yeah we had to stop some time I know I knew he would be proud of that I don't know money you ran out of money you didn't jump out of money you didn't jump out of money you didn't jump in that man [SPEAKER_02]: Oh no, we had to get the record out by his birthday.

[SPEAKER_02]: So once we got it to the mixing phases of the album, it's like, you know, our mixer app on and yeah, I'm glad we did. [SPEAKER_02]: I could do 32 songs by for fake. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm glad we did it too, man. [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you so much. [SPEAKER_02]: It was an honor of a lifetime to have you, you know, on the record.

[SPEAKER_03]: So make you, well, I'm still trying to find that tape we did a few years ago. [SPEAKER_03]: We did a back-to-back thing on the magazine. [SPEAKER_03]: What magazine was that, do you remember? [SPEAKER_02]: It's called Musicians Friend. [SPEAKER_02]: We did it at the Dodge Theater. [SPEAKER_02]: And I just remembered as the first time I met you.

[SPEAKER_02]: We did that part. [SPEAKER_02]: And the thing was, I'm such a guitar nerd. [SPEAKER_02]: I'll admit this, you know, I'm sitting there with George. [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm just asking him if that is D.N. [SPEAKER_02]: Gellico's an excitement as is in Johnny Smith's. [SPEAKER_02]: And I'll all the guitar nerd stuff that I always wanted to know.

[SPEAKER_02]: And you were always gracious and, and, you know, like, yeah, I remember that guitar. [SPEAKER_03]: I still got several of them. [SPEAKER_02]: I know, I know. [SPEAKER_02]: It's like somebody I kind of wants to himself. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: I love the acoustic, but I mean, the D in Jellicle, but I think the D acoustic will find me.

[SPEAKER_02]: uh... top the uh... he's uncle uh... uh... the angelic uh... yeah i got a fabulous fabulous you wish to be uh... yeah uh... those are great instruments i think that the very rarely does the printer that the apprentice uh... outshined the the master print in that case he did you've uh... you've been planted to to together there as many of these folks as you can for the for a big live version [SPEAKER_02]: Not yet.

[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it's, I mean, the fact that we were able to, we had to do most 90% of this record remotely. [SPEAKER_02]: It's just scheduling and, you know, I thought about it and I thought about it and then stop thinking about it. [SPEAKER_02]: Because just, you know, maybe we'll do a blue summit, you know, concert somewhere.

[SPEAKER_02]: It's just, [SPEAKER_02]: I know, it was enough. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm just happy that the record finally came out. [SPEAKER_02]: I'm happy that you know, it's gotten such great reviews and we're the captures and great performances and moments and I think maybe it would be throughout. [SPEAKER_02]: That's my whole point of doing this.

[SPEAKER_02]: I just want to make him proud and show him that the community still loves them. [SPEAKER_02]: We all we all miss a That's right man. [SPEAKER_03]: That's exactly right. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, man. [SPEAKER_03]: Sure as a ball to be back with you again Haven't seen you since those days. [SPEAKER_02]: I know You're still on the road.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to P. R. Yeah, Illinois right now. [SPEAKER_03]: What? [SPEAKER_03]: I had to pull loose. [SPEAKER_03]: Twist on in a while. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you agree [SPEAKER_02]: On the way to PRA, if we were doing shows out of Chicago and just all the same process. [SPEAKER_02]: So this is today, we spent a week in Chicago just popping out of there and then now we're in PRA and Cincinnati and then Wilkes Fair and all the warm spots in the winter.

[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it is, it is brilliant record and you know, if somebody had to do it, you know, think goodness it was you, someone who really understands not just the importance of BB, but you know, has that passion to keep that flame alive still, Joe, so I appreciate you doing that. [SPEAKER_01]: And, and just enjoying everything that both you all do from Joe, your latest with the, with the breakthrough, the album that came out and George, I saw the, I remember hearing that what the dreams come true was that came out last year, one of the great lost records.

[SPEAKER_03]: So, you know, what a ball to find that record man. [SPEAKER_03]: Forty, forty years later. [SPEAKER_01]: The nice gym, seriously. [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks to both of you all for doing what you do. [SPEAKER_01]: It has been such an honor and a pleasure to get to have this conversation with you.

[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you guys for appreciate it. [SPEAKER_02]: George, always a pleasure. [SPEAKER_03]: Well, gentlemen, can you get easy and keep up the good work? [SPEAKER_01]: My thanks to Joe Bonamasa and George Benson, BB King Blues Summit 100 is out now. [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks to you for checking out the episode, do hit that subscribe button while you're hanging around to keep up with all the episodes that I've had every single week.

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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Kyle Meredith. [SPEAKER_01]: I'll see you next time [SPEAKER_01]: Consequence Podcast Network. [SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to hear your favorite artist on WFPK from wherever you are, listen on your smart speaker, live stream from our website at WFPK.org from Louisville Public Media.

Joe Bonamassa & George Benson Talk Blues and the Legacy of B.B. King

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