Slash says B.B. King is his favorite Blues guitarist

The Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash is currently promoting his new covers album “Orgy Of The Damned”, which is focused on Blues. He covered famous tracks from artists like Robert Johnson, Peter Green, Willie Dixon, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Stevie Wonder. But in an interview with Total Guitar he actually revealed that his favorite Blues guitarist is actually the late B.B. King.

Slash recalled that he was the first Blues musician he heard in his life because his grandmother used to play his music to him when he was a kid.

Slash says B.B. King is his favorite Blues guitarist

“He was the guy, when I was a kid, way, way before I ever thought of picking up a guitar, he was the first traditional blues artist that I was exposed to,” Slash says. “My grandmother played me B.B. King and it stuck with me.

“I heard a lot of blues artists after that, all around the family and stuff, but B.B. King, the first time I ever heard it, it really stuck with me, and so he ended up being my favorite blues guitar player out of all the greats that I really dig,” Slash said.

B.B. King sadly passed away back in 2015, a victim of multi-infarct dementia at the age of 89. But Slash was lucky enough to have performed with King live many times. One of the most famous encounters between the two happened at the Royal Albert Hall. They performed King’s classic “The Thrill Is Gone” featuring Ronnie Wood, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi. It was the last time Slash performed with the Blues musician.

In the same conversation, Slash recalled that King was always very cordial to him and almost “fatherly”.

Slash’s new album has many special guests on vocals. Some of them are Chris Robinson, Billy Gibbons, Iggy Pop, Paul Rodgers and Brian Johnson.