When Joe Bonamassa talks about B.B. King, it never sounds abstract. It’s personal, lived-in, and rooted in gratitude. Bonamassa was still a kid when King put him onstage, and that early act of generosity became the foundation for a relationship and a responsibility that now comes full circle with B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100, a sprawling tribute album marking what would have been King’s 100th birthday.

The album is the result of a nine-month, carefully curated process that brings together an extraordinary cross-section of artists, each chosen not for name recognition alone, but for their personal connection to King’s music. Contributors include Buddy Guy, Keb' Mo', Slash, Shemekia Copeland, Marcus King, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Larkin Poe, Jimmie Vaughan, Warren Haynes, Dion, Aloe Blacc, and Kirk Fletcher, among many others. Each artist was paired with material that resonated on a personal level, then given the freedom to interpret King’s catalog through their own voice.

Bonamassa’s role as producer was driven by one guiding principle: do it right, or don’t do it at all. Familiar songs like “The Thrill Is Gone” weren’t treated as relics from the past, they were rebuilt with intention, using real strings, real horns, and arrangements designed to honor the emotional weight of the originals without flattening them into reverent replicas. “You only get one shot to do this correctly,” Bonamassa says. “And I think we nailed it.”

One of the album’s quiet revelations is how strongly it foregrounds King’s voice. Too often overshadowed by Lucille and the phrasing that rewrote electric blues guitar, King’s vocals were a force of nature in their own right. Bonamassa points to the respect King earned from singers outside the blues world, including Frank Sinatra, as proof that his vocal command deserves equal billing. The power, the warmth, the authority, it’s all there, woven throughout the project.

For many of the artists involved, Blues Summit 100 doubles as a collective memory bank. Bobby Rush, who first met King in 1948, reflects on a lifetime of admiration and recalls leading the hearse at King’s funeral. Kenny Wayne Shepherd remembers receiving life advice from King on his 16th birthday. Marcus King traces his connection back to childhood, standing against the back wall at a B.B. King show, absorbing something that would stay with him long after the lights came up.

The album also makes room for unexpected combinations. Pat Monahan of Train teams up with guitarist Chris Buck on “Think It Over,” while Copeland, Slash, and Myles Kennedy converge on “When Love Comes to Town,” bridging genres and generations in ways that feel organic rather than forced.

The title itself nods to King’s Grammy-winning 1993 album Blues Summit, but Bonamassa is clear-eyed about the intent here. This isn’t a closing chapter. It’s a continuation of a mandate King carried throughout his life: keep the blues alive. “B.B.’s only wish was, ‘Do what you can to keep the blues alive,’” Bonamassa says. “Hopefully this album gives a B12 shot to his legacy, and to the legacy of the blues.”

B.B. King died at 89 in 2015 with a body of work that speaks for itself. More than 50 albums, 15 Grammy Awards, and decades spent taking the blues around the world only begin to outline his impact. The deeper story lives in the musicians and audiences shaped by his sound and his spirit. As Buddy Guy once said, every electric guitarist carries a little bit of B.B. inside them. Blues Summit 100 doesn’t argue the point so much as prove it, tracing a line that continues forward, undiminished and unmistakable.