When producer T Bone Burnett first met with B.B. King, he presented the blues legend with a simple mission statement: “I'd like for you to go back to the Fifties and do some of the stuff as you did it then." At 82, King wondered whether he could really re-create what he calls “the B.B. King that was" on a new album. “My voice is nothing like it was, and maybe my playing isn't like it was," he says. “But I believed that we could do something different than what I've been doing recently and not worry about sounding contemporary. Times have changed so much, music has changed so much, but those old records still sound pretty good."
As it turns out, One Kind Favor recaptures much of the spirit and sound of King's early recordings, complete with rich horn-section blasts, vintage-style tube distortion on the vocals and boogie-woogie piano courtesy of Dr. John. As on King's Fifties records, he played live in the studio with the band, which included Eric Clapton sideman Nathan East on stand-up bass and session vet Jim Keltner on drums. Despite the all-star backing, King's lion's-roar vocals and stinging lead guitar are way up front -- Burnett's main direction to King was “play a little more."
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