Joe Bonamassa Quotes

I was living and working with adult men who were playing a real art form. And I had been playing blues all my life. As soon as I formed my first band, we played Jimmy Reed stuff. So it wasn't like I was a white kid who was learning the blues from B.B. King records.

One of many joyful moments with BB King was him letting me play 'Lucille.' ...The thrill will never be gone.

I guess you can look at me, and tell I'm the old man. My name is BB King.

The first real thing I heard was Three O'Clock Blues by B.B. King. That's where it all began for me.

Eric Clapton was such a great player. He sounds like he's Freddie King or someone like that. He plays the roots of blues and Delta blues. He really affected me with the way that he plays, because he never really plays that many notes.

Albert King wasn't my brother in blood, but he sure was my brother in Blues

I knew BB King when he first started out.

John Lee Hooker became a friend of mine and I love all of his work. He was truly an icon. He lived the life. I miss him.

Johnny Winter is one of the best blues players in the world. He's very underrated.

I'm not a big blues fan, but I don't know anyone who doesn't dig B.B. King.

The blues is the foundation for a lot of things. Things have branched off. It's cool how music grows, but the foundation is always there. It's not going anywhere. The blues is always going to be relevant.

It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives its most distinctive character.

The blues is like a planet. It's an enormous topic. You can't ignore the impact that it has had and continues to have on the whole musical culture. It's a tree that everyone is swinging from. Without it, I don't know where I would be. It's indelible and indispensable.

When I was a kid, I always looked up to people like B.B. King and Ray Charles.

I used to listen to the radio, and when I was about 18 years old, B.B. King was a disc jockey and he had a radio program, 15 minutes a day, over in West Memphis, Arkansas, and he would play the blues.

Robert Johnson? No, I didn't know him, personally.

Of course that was my idol, Son House. I think he did a lot for the Mississippi slide down there.

Without the blues, modern music would be nothing like it is now - not remotely.

When I first started, I worked with my father, Alex 'Little Bill' Wallace; he was a guitarist like B.B. King. I was around 13 when I started, and I learned a lot by looking and listening. I learned how to be a bandleader from watching that band work.

If it wasn't for guys like Gary Moore, I wouldn't exist. He not only proved that the blues could rock but it could draw a crowd as well. All of which made a huge impression on me.

Of all the songs we played, 'Statesboro Blues' was the most ripped-off.

Hardly a day goes by without me sticking on a Muddy Waters record.

I think about legacy a lot, hopefully at the end of the day they say I was a good bluesman. That's all I want.

When I saw Jimi Hendrix I knew immediately that this guy was the real thing ... and when he played it was like a rough sketch of what he was going to become ... this guy was our generation, and he wasn't in a suit .. he played a Howlin' Wolf song 'Killing Floor', and then we (The Cream) had to carry on the set. It was pretty hard to follow.

The musical flags of the world should fly at half mast because truly one of the greatest guitarists in the world and king of the blues has died. I have cherished him and so has the rest of the world who knew him and loved him for his entire career. As we pain, we must celebrate that his music, his style of playing and singing will last forever, from the recordings that he has done and the influence that he has had and will have on guitarists all over this planet. Long live the spirit of B.B. King.