Rock and Roll Garage

Billy Gibbons was born in Houston, Texas in 1949 and when he was still a kid he had the chance to see many incredible Blues musicians playing. Those experiences were crucial to inspire him to become the kind of guitarist, singer and songwriter he is. One of his biggest inspirations was the late legendary singer, songwriter and guitarist BB King. Born in Itta Bena, Mississippi back in 1925, King became one of the most influential Bluesmen of all time and Gibbons has always been a big fan. He once revealed which was the BB King album that said he couldn't live without. The BB King album Billy Gibbons said he couldn’t live without One of the most prolific musicians in history, BB King released simply 43 studio albums and 16 live records. In an interview with Guitar World in 2024, Gibbons revealed that his favorite album by his late friend was "Live at the Regal" released in 1964. “Live at the Regal. It’s really all there,” Gibbons said. The album was recorded at the Regal Theater in Chicago and is often considered one of the greatest Blues albums ever made. It has many renditions of Blues' classics like "Every Day I Have the Blues", "Sweet Little Angel" and "How Blue Can You Get". At the time, BB King's band also had Leo Lauchie (Bass), Duke Jethro (Piano), Sonny Freeman (Drums), Bobby Forte and Johnny Board (Tenor saxophone) and Kenny "Kenneth Sands (Trumpet). At the age of 7 Gibbons saw BB King recording a song in the studio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LSd1KO8a68&pp=ygUzbGl2ZSBhdCB0aGUgcmVnYWwgYnkgYi5iLiBraW5nIGhvdyBibHVlIGNhbiB5b3UgZ2V0 That's right, Billy Gibbons had the chance to see BB King recording the song “Tired of Your Jive” back in the 50s, when he was about 7 years old. Billy's father was Frederick Royal, an entertainer, orchestra conductor and concert pianist. He worked with his cousin for Samuel Goldwyn at MGM Studios. So one day Frederick took his son to a recording studio in Houston and coincidetally it was the day when BB King and his band would record there. Gibbons recalled this incredible story in an interview with Front and Center in 2020 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). "My dad piled me in the car, he was gonna, he had some business to do. There was two recording studios of note, they're in Houston, Texas. I got in the car and I climbed out and we walked in the studio." He continued: "My dad said: 'There's a chair over there. Got sit down, I'll be in the office if you need me. But there's a recording session that's gonna take place, you will probably enjoy seeing'. So I'm sitting there and in walks B.B. King and his band. So can you pretty much point those two events, they still ring true. I said 'Yep, that's for me'," Billy Gibbons said. The curious thing is that decades later, when they were already great friends and had played multiple times together, Billy Gibbons was invited to be part of a BB King tribute album "B.B. King & Friends: 80" (2005). The song chosen by King for them to record was exactly “Tired of Your Jive". In an interview with Music Radar in 2016, the ZZ Top frontman recalled how BB King reacted when he told him he was in the studio when he recorded that track. "Naturally, he didn’t have any recollection of it. But (he) said, ‘You were actually there?’ I said, ‘Yeah! I was just a little boy there with my dad.’ So he said, ‘Okay, you shouldn’t have any trouble with it! Are you plugged up?’" He continued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAh1Q2AZGNo "I said, ‘Yeah, I’m in tune and ready to go.’ And so he told me to go over by the vocal booth. I asked him what I was going to do there. He said, ‘You’re going to sing, the words are there for you,’" Billy Gibbons said. After BB King's death in 2015 at the age of 89, Gibbons praised him a lot. He described the Bluesman as a warmhearted, generous and giving person. The late guitarist and singer helped Gibbons many times during his career, giving him advice about the kind of guitar strings he used, for example. King also told him that he shouldn't try to play what someone else had taught him, but rather something he wanted to hear.

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