--- title: B.B. King: T Bone Burnett Remembers Blues Legend description: "He conjured the very soul of our country," Burnett says canonical: https://time.com/3881619/bb-king-tbone-burnett/ author: T Bone Burnett article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-16T13:30:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:07:59.142Z article:section: Ideas og:title: T Bone Burnett Remembers B.B. King og:description: "He conjured the very soul of our country," T Bone says og:url: https://time.com/3881619/bb-king-tbone-burnett/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2606df2067e0d672/69884ce6e53aba05f54dd59a/bb-king3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: B.B. King performs on stage during Frampton's Guitar Circus at Route 66 Casino's Legends Theater on August 21, 2013 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: T Bone Burnett Remembers B.B. King twitter:description: "He conjured the very soul of our country," T Bone says twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2606df2067e0d672/69884ce6e53aba05f54dd59a/bb-king3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # T Bone Burnett Remembers B.B. King: 'He Conjured the Very Soul of Our Country' > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=709e3fcc-62d5-4bf4-8b0a-344103fc0317&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: B.B. King Passes Away at 89 [Watch (HLS stream): B.B. King Passes Away at 89](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wbb1hKeu.m3u8) (1:22)  _Published 2015-05-15. Blues icon B.B. King has died at the age of 89, following a 20-year battle with diabetes._ by [T Bone Burnett](https://time.com/author/t-bone-burnett/) ## T Bone Burnett May 16, 2015 1:30 PM UTC Blues icon B.B. King has died at the age of 89, following a 20-year battle with diabetes. by [T Bone Burnett](https://time.com/author/t-bone-burnett/) ## T Bone Burnett May 16, 2015 1:30 PM UTC B.B. King was, is, and will remain an American hero of the highest order. He rose from deep Southern poverty to carry the true history and the highest spirit of our people around the world with a most extraordinary grace and generosity, following Louis Armstrong out of the Mississippi Delta to become one of our most significant cultural ambassadors. The music and the history he carried in his heart and gave to us in the most openhanded way will long be remembered. In his music, he conjured the very soul of our country. I will give you this one small story. Thirty some odd years ago, on a night off in Houston, Texas, I wound up at a small club where B.B. was playing. It was a listening type night. It was mid week, and B.B. was in a mellow place, singing some Lonnie Johnson and some T-Bone Walker. The crowd was sitting down, hanging on his every bend. He was taking it easy, so we were all taking it easy. The set went on for a couple of semi quiet—by Texas roadhouse standards—hours before B.B. called a young Texas musician named Stevie Ray Vaughan to the stage to play a number. Stevie Ray was just getting started. People in Houston didn’t know about him yet. I had seen him with his trio at Nick Kithas’ club in Fort Worth, which was the size of a small bedroom, with two other people in attendance, one of them Nick, but he hadn’t gotten down to Houston before. ### Look Back at B.B. King's Life and Career  B.B. King a local DJ at WDIA Radio poses for a portrait circa 1948 in Memphis, Tenn. Michael Ochs Archives/ Getty images  B.B. King poses for a portrait in 1950. Gilles Petard/Redferns  From Left: Musicians B.B. King, Eric Clapton and Elvin Bishop perform together in 1967 in New York City. Don Paulsen—Michael Ochs Archives  B.B. King performs on a TV show in Los Angeles in the early 1970's . Michael Ochs Archives/ Getty images  B.B. King performs at the Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Ill. on Sept. 22, 1985. Bettmann/Corbis  From Left: U2 and B.B. King perform onstage during The Lovetown tour on Sept. 1, 1989 in Australia. Bob King—Redferns  From Left: B.B. King and John Lee Hooker pose for a portrait on Jan. 1, 1997. Bill Reitzel—Corbis  From Left: President Bill Clinton plays the sax with B.B. King at 'A Family Celebration 2001' at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. on April 1, 2001 Kevin Winter—Getty Images  B.B. King performs during the funeral for legendary singer and musician Ray Charles at the First AME Church in Los Angeles on June 18, 2004. Genaro Molina—Reuters/Corbis  B.B. King smiles while President George W. Bush presents King with the Medal of Freedom on Dec. 15, 2006 in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. Tim Sloan—AFP/Getty Images  From Left: B.B. King watches as President Barack Obama waves during the National Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony on the Ellipse near the White House in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 9, 2010. Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images  B.B. King performs at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on Aug. 13, 2013 in Atlanta. John Davidson—Corbis Stevie Ray seemed a little nervous to be getting on the stage with the guitarist _all_ of us Texas guitarists viewed as one of the best all time. B.B. had been a legend down there for 30 years—an authentic link to Charlie Patton and Son House and Sun Records, for that matter. But Stevie didn’t play nervous. A couple of choruses into the first song, B.B. looked over at him to take a solo, and Stevie began to absolutely rip it up for about eight measures before he broke his B string. You would have to say it was a disappointing moment for the young virtuoso. B.B. didn’t miss a half a beat. He threw back his head and laughed, then said over the mic, “That happens to me all the time,” then he cranked the volume on his guitar several notches and finished a most burning solo while Stevie Ray changed his string. A couple of choruses later, Stevie Ray had his guitar back together, and they tore that crowd completely apart for about 20 minutes before getting off the stage to ecstatic applause—actual ecstatic applause. B.B. King was an ecstatic musician who mined his ecstasy from deep in the ground—from deep in the mud and the silt of a brutal region and a brutal world. And we will ask the future generations—please see that his grave is kept clean. ## Transcript Blues singer and musician BB King has passed away at the age of 89 according to his daughter Patty King. King was recently rushed to the hospital after suffering from a diabetes related emergency. The singer has been battling the condition for over 20 years. Born Riley B King in 1925. King left work on a plantation to pursue a music career in Memphis. According to King's website the singer's first big break came in 1948 when he performed on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program. King soon decided he needed a unique stage name. He started out as the Beale Street Blues Boy. The name went through several revisions, and he ended up being called B. B. King. Throughout his career, King released 43 studio albums. King is also the only performer to have won a Fifteen Grammy Awards in the blues genre. The King of Blues was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in the 1980s. He was even included in Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Guitars of all time ranking at number six. The Publication called him a genuine soloist. In 2010, King sat down with the Academy of Achievement and spoke about what blues music means to him. Blues singing, is just like signing any other kind of song. You still try to tell a story. Your music is life. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3881619/bb-king-tbone-burnett/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3881619/bb-king-tbone-burnett/"},"headline":"T Bone Burnett Remembers B.B. King: 'He Conjured the Very Soul of Our Country'","datePublished":"2015-05-16T13:30:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T09:07:59.142Z","description":"\"B.B. 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