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One slight tweak to the "doing what you love" meme: BB reported in an interview years ago that he started off busking Gospel music. He found that lots of peopl
by wavegeek 11y ago
One slight tweak to the "doing what you love" meme:
BB reported in an interview years ago that he started off busking Gospel music. He found that lots of people came up and patted him on the head and praised him but no-one put any money in his hat.
So he switched to blues. Blues fans gave him the thumbs up and put money in his hat. The rest is history.
- k-mcgrady 11y agoI remember that. I think the point was that the people who were supposed to be good (i.e. gospel fans) would listen but not pay him any money. The blues fans (and at the time I believe a lot of people considered that the devils music) did. I think it was just more of a humorous point than a serious point about a career decision.
- sdrothrock 11y agoThis is actually also in the obituary linked here. There's no way it's anywhere near as superficial as he makes it sound -- that's definitely just self-depreciation. I can't imagine anyone working that hard to teach, work with, and publicize other bluesmen simply because it brings in more money, especially at his age/wealth. Joe Bonamassa sticks out in my mind as one of the people BB King really worked with.
- spike021 11y agoI don't know the history, so I could be wrong, but maybe when he explains that he means he did it as a way to sustain himself (and family I'd assume), rather than it being better-paying just for the money. It could be that it started for that reasoning and then later once the style had become his life, he stuck with it. Again, could be completely wrong so take of that what you will. Just my opinion.
- Angostura 11y agoAh, a man who knows how to pivot.