Artist:   B.B. King
Song:   "Don’t Answer the Door"
Album: Blues Is King
Label:   MCA
Year:    1966

Everyone has their favorite B.B. King classic. He started recording almost 60 years ago, so there’s a lot to choose from, starting with stripped-down sessions in Memphis all the way to the biggest sound stages of Hollywood. One of his most heart-stopping periods was the mid-60s, right before he broke through the rock audience and soon scored the mega-hit “The Thrill Is Gone.” Still working the chitlin circuit throughout the south and the bigger theaters in the north, King carried no pretenses about what he did. The man was a blues man, and proud of it. He came out onstage, plugged in his big Gibson guitar named Lucille and commenced to devastate his faithful audiences with blues that came from so deep within him there is simply no accurate way to describe it. His voice carried so much pain there were nights that became a spiritual catharsis, and those faithful to King’s cause gathered in clubs and around hi-fis to share the healing force he always delivered. “Don’t Answer the Door” is B.B. King at his very best. It begins with a stunning distillation of why he may be the greatest blues guitarist who ever lived, and once he starts singing there is nothing to do but listen in awe. The song is a list of people he doesn’t want his woman to see when she’s home alone--period. The sister? See her at church on Sunday. The mother? Just stay away. The doctor? Suffer until he gets home. This is a case of jealousy of the highest order, and nothing is going to change that. King doesn’t apologize, but bears down on feelings so strong they’re almost scary. The Blues Is King album captures a period when blues spoke almost solely to those who needed it most, and no one delivered this sermon of survival better than B.B. King. It carried his fans from bad times to good, and took the musician to the front door of fame and fortune, making the man forever the king of the blues.