This book documents a great American story, that of B. B. King, the “King of the Blues” and one of America’s most important popular musicians. With fascinating images and history—most published for the first time—it traces his migration from his hometown of Indianola, Mississippi, to the Chitlin’ Circuit (the national network of Black theaters and roadhouses), and eventually to Carnegie Hall. What was it about Riley B. King that enabled him to become the worldwide “King of the Blues?" The author’s quest to answer that question is chronicled here and tells the story of the once impossible friendship between someone who grew up poor and Black in Mississippi and the white middle-class New Englander who fell in love with the blues and was determined to tell the story of his musical hero. 

King thrilled his audiences not only with his musical prowess, but with his capacity to establish intimacy, regardless of crowd size. He gave an estimated 18,000 concerts in 90 countries. B. B. King: From Indianola to Icon tells the story of King’s journey from sharecropper to musical icon, one who brought the music of America—the blues— to the world. It is a book for blues fans and others who want to know how and why this transformation occurred.

What they're saying about the book:

“Charlie Sawyer has done his homework—and then some. He brings to life the childhood of the “King of the Blues,” his family, his friends, and then goes from there. And we learn how, against very long odds, young Riley King became B.B. King, a story as great as the man himself!”

   —Tom Rush, folk and blues singer-songwriter 

“From Indianola To Icon, Charlie Sawyer’s perceptive new photo-study of B.B. King, is a masterful conclusion to the work Charlie began over four decades ago with his sensitive biography called The Arrival of B.B. King. B.B. trusted Charlie. So, it is ‘from the inside’ that Charlie has created this warm and charming portrait of America’s late and forever great ‘King of the Blues.’”

—Mark Naftalin, musician

“I’m not in the habit of exclaiming out loud when I read. But Charles Sawyer’s new book on B.B. King had me doing that repeatedly—every page or two, without fail. There is no fan of B.B. King who won’t be thrilled, and sometimes electrified, by what they find in this photorich, intimate, and insightful memoir. I’ve known Charlie for several decades, as long as I’ve been writing about King from a scholarmusician’s perspective, but the creative synergy here, the pairing of the author’s strikingly well-composed, spiritually insightful images drawn from the full scope of King’s career with his own reflections on that career and his enduring friendship with King, took me by surprise. There’s a majesty here, a largeness of spirit and sureness ofauthorial touch, that will resonate powerfully with the audience that is sure to embrace this book, as they have embraced B.B. King downthrough the decades.”

—Adam Gussow, author, historian, blues harmonica player

“No one knows the B.B. King story better than Charles Sawyer. His Arrival of B.B. King is a classic. He’s also a tremendous photographer, and his images of the great man span nearly half a century. Historic stuff sits between these covers.”

—Daniel de Visé, author of King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B.B. King
 

“Charles Sawyer’s personal relationship with blues legend B.B. King dates back to 1968. Sawyer is the author of the first biography of King— The Arrival of B.B. King—which was published forty years ago. B.B. was in the middle of his remarkable professional transition from king of the chitlin’ circuit to worldwide celebrity, and Sawyer was given unparalleled, up-close-and-personal access to King. B.B. King: From Indianola to Icon gives music fans a uniquely intimate window into the man behind the legend. We join Sawyer as he crisscrosses the country with King—from the South Side of Chicago to Carnegie Hall, from Lennie’s on the Turnpike in Massachusetts, to a Baptist church in Mississippi (where Sawyer delivered a eulogy at B.B.’s funeral), from the stage of The Ed Sullivan Show to B.B.’s home in Las Vegas. Charles Sawyer—with his friendship of decades with King, his insightful writing, and his stunning photographs—is the only person who could have produced this invaluable and highly entertaining portrait of the king of the blues.”

—Kim Field, author of Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers, and co-author of The Blues Dream of Billy Boy Arnold