Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King

The fabled blues guitarist chronicles his youth on a Mississippi cotton farm, years as a disc jockey, experiences with racism and the civil rights movement, romantic relationships, and forty-five years on the road.

The long-awaited autobiography.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

B. B. King's autobiography is an inspirational story so well told, with the help of coauthor Ritz, that it transcends the genre of pop-music biography. The words flow melodiously as King recalls an early life of hardship and fear as something wonderful that instilled in him lasting values and the ability to deal with life's challenges. Childhood was brief; after being shuttled around a good bit, King left home in his teens. As a child, he enjoyed two quite different bluesmen, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lonnie Johnson, and when his mother's cousin Bukka White and the local preacher let young Riley (B. B.'s given name) play on their guitars, the budding guitar hero, mightily impressed, noted the sensuous potential of the instrument. A guitar's "rounded shape and lovely curves remind me of the body of a beautiful girl," he says, "I wanna run up and put my arms around [it]." Inspiration like that suggests where King's graceful discipline and proficiency come from and also explains why he calls his guitar Lucille. Although it lacks a full discography (what we get is just "selected" ), this is one of the best recent pop-music bios. King speaks straight from the soul, it seems, just like he plays the guitar. Maybe he has another hit on his hands. Mike Tribby