Thrill of a lifetime

TODAY, I’D LIKE to talk about the legacy of the legendary B.B. King, as 2025 marked what would have been his 100th birthday. I met B.B. in 1990 when I was 13 years old, and we became lifelong friends.

The month’s best guitar music – a hand-picked selection of the finest fretwork on wax

B.B. KING was the gracious, perma-gigging ambassador of the blues, but his seeming serenity glossed a rollercoaster career, struggles with racism and gambling, audiences lost and found. As a new tribute album reinforces his legacy, MAT SNOW goes to bat for arguably the most underrated legend of the form, starting with the gig that turned everything around...

JIMMIE VAUGHAN IS still kicking at 74, but he’s endured a few setbacks along the way, mostly in the form of three recent heart attacks. After the third of these — which happened in 2022 — the Texas bl

Singer/guitarist Marcus King

SINCE FOUNDING BIG Wreck in the early Nineties, Ian Thornley has filled his band’s songbook with arena-conquering melodies, Led Zeppelin-hailing heft and some of the most super-heroically knuckle-bust