One Kind Favor (Bonus Track Version)

One Kind Favor (Bonus Track Version)

Is it possible for a man to hit his stride at 82 years of age? B.B. King's One Kind Favor makes a good case for answering such a question with a resounding yes. Of course his 24th studio album had some help from music legends, luminaries, and A-list players like T Bone Burnett on the mixing board, Dr. John on keys, Jim Keltner on drums, and Eric Clapton's bass player Nathan East. King's guitar playing actually takes a back seat on most of the opening song, a hushed and haunted rendition of Blind Lemon Jefferson's classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean," letting the players carry most of the weight until the end where his warm and toneful licks gradually lap up the fretboard of his guitar like campfire flames. This is not to say that One Kind Favor exudes predictable porch jams — On "Blues Before Sunrise" King turns Leroy Carr's piano pounding lament into a steamy, sultry roadhouse romp, and Lonnie Johnson's choral heavy "Tomorrow Night" gets the stripped-down gospel treatment with the kind of intense intimacy that only Burnett can produce. "My Baby Is Now," "Just To Be With You," and "Haunted House" all make for a truly rewarding triptych of bonus tracks.

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