¥T B.B. King receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom ¥T

¥T
http://www.worldblues.com/bbking/prairie/begin.html

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the United State's highest civil award. Established by Executive Order 11085 in 1963, the Medal may be awarded by the President "to any person who has made an especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

An Excerpt from the President's remarks:
"One of America's unique gifts to the world is a music called the blues. And in that music two names are paramount -- B.B. King, and his guitar, Lucille. It has been said that when John Lennon was asked to name his great ambition, he said, "to play the guitar like B.B. King." Many musicians have had that same goal, but nobody has ever been able to match the skill, or copy the sound of The King of the Blues.

He came up the hard way in the Deep South; living alone when he was nine years old; walking miles to school, and picking cotton for 35 cents a day. Barely out of his teens, he made his first trip to Memphis, Tennessee, with his guitar and $2.50 in his pocket. He made his name on Beale Street, and his studio recordings made him a national favorite. B.B. King has sold more than 40 million records. He won 14 Grammys. He has a place on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He's influenced generations of musicians from blues to rock, and he's performed in venues from roadside nightclubs to Carnegie Hall. He's still touring, and he's still recording, and he's still singing, and he's still playing the blues better than anybody else. In other words: The thrill is not gone.

America loves the music of B.B. King, and America loves the man, himself. Congratulations. "
16 December 2006

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Education

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[lukessummer]

America had B.B King and Europe had Eric Clapton bashing out pedestrian Blues songs for the masses, of course they are all part of some kind of rock royalty now......Bah!!!

[AuroraKismet]

Love ya but if I had wings,I'd fly over there and tweak yer nose."Pedestrian blues".Ha !

The Blues is the Blues.

[AuroraKismet]

Bessie Smith,Sonny Terry,Brownie McGhee,Memphis Minnie,Reverend Gary Davis,Josh White,Bukka White,John Lee Hooker,Elmore James,Howlin Wolf,there's so many more of whom it can be said without which there wouldn't be these rock stars or rock and roll as the masses now know it.

[heavymetalrulz123]

That's fine for you to say that.

[lukessummerguitar]

I have to agree with you on that!...I just feel a bit aggrieved when I hear stories like the time the Rolling Stones first came to America, Keith Richard wanted to meet his hero (Muddy Waters) so they all went down to his record company to try and arrange a meeting and walked right past Muddy 'cause he was painting the entrance hall...The man still had to hold a job down even though people like the Stones where making a mint covering his songs!

[heavymetalrulz123]

I agree. Those three did start it and Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones were very influenced by Muddy Waters. As a matter of fact Jimi Hendrix said something like when he first heard Muddy Waters, it scared him to death. However, BB King brought blues to the masses like bibeninjax said and he has toured for more than 40 years and has many bars and clubs named after him. He totally deserved this award because he experienced the blues himself. Maybe those other artists did too.

[Celticstrat]

Fair play Lee, mentioning ABBA. The Blues and JAZZ are uniquely American. Although, it is derived from the traditional celt music mixed with african music.. Indian music, is also rather profound.

I would say that pop, was an amalgimation of many forms and was brought to the fore frond, by Frank Sinatra, Elvis, th million dollar five as it were, but then saw the world captured by the The Beatles. The blues has been mastered Jeff Beck, Lord Such, Ritchie Blackmore and Jimmy Page, Jimmy Hendrix

[bigbeninjax]

I remember Croce, of course, but not specifically his lead guitar player. Guess I always assumed it was Jim. So they both died in the plane crash? I'll have to look for some of those vids on YT.....assuming the jackasses at YT haven't yanked them for "infringing" (on nothing).

[lukessummer]

I think primarily it is the language barrier. The only band/group to really make an international presence outside of the English speaking western world (America, British Isles and Australia) is ABBA.

For some reason the rest of the world has no problem listening to English speaking groups, yet we here in the west are almost snobbish about foreign language groups.

[bigbeninjax]

Lee, here's a thought question for you. We often think of our rock influences as being primarily from Britain and the US. Why none from Germany, France, or Spain? Another band from US that is a great amalgam of early US rock and jazz (especially) influence is Steely Dan.

[RedKruzer]

I presume you are familier with Maury Muehleisen, Jim Croce's lead guitar player. There are many videos on Youtube that show enough of Maury's playing to demonstrate. Maury was a classical piano player. He then learned to play the piano on the guitar. It is hard to imagine where he would have developed had he not died so very early in his life & career.

[bigbeninjax]

I don't put Gilmour in the groundbreaking category. He's more like Santana, to me...someone who can make a guitar "sing", for lack of a better word. Whereas, the blues guitarist we've named more or less make the guitar "talk" to tell their story.

[bigbeninjax]

I think more could be said of Hendrix's guitar playing in that he had a way of making a three man group sound like so much more by adding backlicks inside the melody AND inside his lyrics. I guess you could call that 'arranging' but I think he was ground breaking. And, then there was his use of sound (controlled feedback) to sound like even another instrument. He took what The Who were doing at about the same time period and elevated it to a new level. All on an upside down guitar! LOL