For most of the past 30-plus years, guitarist Joe Bonamassa has been a standard-bearer in the blues world. But without B.B. King, the 49-year-old’s career may not have received the boost it needed to take off. At 12, Bonamassa opened for King in Rochester, New York, and went on to play with the blues legend twice that year. The two kept in touch, with King evolving into a trusted mentor for Bonamassa.
Bonamassa carried their relationship in the years following King’s death in 2015, and in October 2024, he started making preparations for what would have been King’s 100th birthday, then just 11 months away.
In January 2025, Bonamassa joined forces with Josh Smith and a group of musicians, mostly from his touring band, and went into Sunset Sound in Los Angeles. There, they cut nearly two dozen King songs, and they made a wish list of guest artists they’d recruit for the album. The final tally, which ballooned to 50 contributors, included Eric Clapton, Chaka Khan, Michael McDonald, Gary Clark Jr., Marcus King, Buddy Guy, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, and Slash.
Bonamassa intended to release the first batch of songs on Sept. 16, 2025, on King’s 100th birthday; KTBA Records released the full collection, titled B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100, on Feb. 6, 2026. He made several appearances in support of the compilation, including last August at a sold-out Grammy Museum event in L.A., where he was joined by Shemekia Copeland and “Kingfish” Ingram, with Jeff Garlin moderating.
The album landed at No. 1 on Billboard’s Blues Albums chart, Bonamassa’s 31st overall. This one, he says, was special for him.
“To me, it was a selfish mission,” Bonamassa tells Rolling Stone. “Now, if somebody called me in November or December 2024 and said, ‘Hey, you want to do a track? I’m doing a B.B. King tribute track,’ I would have been absolutely happy to participate in a project like this, rather than being the ringleader, and it’s absolutely a career highlight.”
Here, Bonamassa shares the story of the last time he saw his mentor, and why putting together this compilation was so rewarding.
When was the last time you saw B.B.?
In 2014. It was probably about seven to eight months before he passed away. He’s very lucid, you know. He picked up right where we left off. He asked if I was still seeing that girl he’d met before, and he remembered showing me how to drag songs from a MacBook onto an iPod because I couldn’t figure it out.
What was the blues scene’s response to being involved in this project?
I was really thrilled to see almost the entire blues community come out and bring their A-game for Mr. King. It was really heartwarming. He only turns 100 once you know. He’s the King of the Blues.
Was there something particularly rewarding in overseeing the album?
Putting together collaborations that probably would never have happened in a million years without B.B. King’s name attached. I’m not sure you’d randomly get Slash, Shemekia Copeland, and Miles Kennedy on a song. Eric Clapton and Chaka Khan never recorded together. Neither had Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi and Michael McDonald. Those were the kinds of things that were musically gratifying to me — being able to put these kinds of pairings together. Without B.B. King and those songs, it would probably have been hard to find a vehicle for those collaborations.
How about the most challenging?
We had January to Sept. 16th to get the record out, including wrangling the guests. Nine months is a very short turnaround time, and we did it. And the last couple of people that came in were Clapton and Slash, and they had touring commitments. Plus, 2025 was a huge touring year for me, and getting this done was insane. But we did it, and the first tracks rolled out on his birthday. I think his birthday fell on a Wednesday, and we released it the following Friday. It was just something I selfishly wanted to make, something that I knew he would be proud of.
What’d the guests who played with you on the album say afterward?
The most frequent comment we got, especially from the singers, was, “Man, what a singer that guy was!” I remember Gary Clark Jr. going, “Man, B.B., what a voice!” It’s tough when you get involved with that and try to do it justice. But everybody did, and I was very happy with it.
