Blues All Around Me

B B King; Ritz, David

ISBN 10: 0380973189 / ISBN 13: 9780380973187

Published by Avon Books, New York, 1996

About this Item

Biography of songwriter and guitar legend, B.B. King. Riley B. King grew up amidst the cotton farms of Mississippi, picking in the fields. He was 21 he wrecked a tractor and took it as a sign that a brighter future awaited him as a musician in Memphis. Recounts his days as a disk jockey and pioneering bluesman on the rhythm and blues circuit, B. B. dramatizes his whirlwind adventures, from the Memphis of the forties to the Moscow of the nineties, in a voice that is both raw and real. A deeply sensuous and sensitive soul, he discloses his complex relationship to women and sexuality, and chronicles his first-hand experience with racism, the Civil Rights movement, and the shifting politics of show business. 6½" - 9½".

Seller Inventory # 278161

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Blues All Around Me
• Publisher: Avon Books, New York
• Publication Date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0380973189
• ISBN 13: 9780380973187
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Printing: First printing
• Condition: fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Book Type: book

About this title

Synopsis

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.

Reviews

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