TBT: B.B. King, "Sweet Little Angel."

B.B. King, who died one week ago, was perhaps the best known blues artist of the past several decades. He wasn't my favorite; I preferred the harder edged style of, to name some examples, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker, and Koko Taylor. Still, King's subtler but still emotionally compelling singing, along with his vocally evocative guitar, made blues more accessible to a wide audience. As the New York Times obituary linked above notes, what he considered his "breakthrough" performance was at the San Francisco rock venue the Fillmore Auditorium in 1968.

Below is a clip of King doing "Sweet Little Angel," one of my favorites of his songs:
 

Photo: B.B. King following a White House performance; Eric Draper, photographer (Wikimedia Commons).