Behind every king there’s a kingmaker. When B.B. King filled the spotlight in the clubs of downtown Chicago, casting his audience and aspiring blues guitar players under his spell, he got there on his charisma and talent. He had it.
But it did not come out of nothing. Even the King of the Blues needed someone to show him the way, to coax the best out of him, to become the player that he never thought it was possible to be.
That man was Robert Jr. Lockwood. You might know the name. You will if you’ve been keeping up with blues history. He comes from a storied lineage.
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His stepfather was none other than Robert Johnson – the O.G. blues guitar virtuoso who, according to legend, got his crown in a pact with the devil. It was Johnson who found his voice at the Crossroads. And Lockwood learned from him.
Speaking to Guitar World in March 1986, Lockwood remembered a young B.B. King approaching him when they were both in Memphis, and this young man wanted some help. He was just no good on the guitar.
In fact, he was so bad that Lockwood demurred when King asked him.
“After I heard how bad B.B. was sounding, I didn’t want to help him,” he said, and he didn’t sugarcoat it none. “It was no fun to play with him. When he found out who I was he begged me to join him.”
Lockwood weakened. Maybe B.B. King wore him down. Maybe at heart he was just a soft touch. Together they played and B.B. King watched and learned.
“I stayed about two years before leaving for Chicago. I’m responsible for him being what he is today,” claimed Lockwood.
If the blues came together in Memphis, Mississippi, and all across the south, it was in Chicago were it gathered steam – when players such as Muddy Waters, Otis Rush and Willie Dixon were putting it together. The Chicago scene was the making of Buddy Guy, and speaking to Guitar World in 2021, he explained how it was all going on in the Windy City.
“Well first of all, I didn’t think I was going to join this crowd here, because when I came, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, you had Sonny Boy Williamson, Jimmy Rogers and all those guys were making hit records at Chess Records,” recalled Guy.
“You had the jazz guys… We was listening to everything! But I said, ‘Buddy, you in Chicago but sit back, listen and learn. Don’t rush out there and think you can join these guys, just sit back and hope you can learn something from them.’ And I learned a lot from them.”
And that’s how it went. Players passed they’re knowledge along, at least to those whom they thought deserving. Otis Rush gave Buddy Guy his shot on stage. The players who were destined for greatness were the ones who watched and learned. Like Buddy Guy says, they sat back and watched, soaked it all up.
B.B. King did just that. When he offered his side of the story, as to Lockwood’s contribution to the making of him as a player, he didn’t quite go as far as Johnson’s stepson did. But he did acknowledge that the company of a pro player taught him the ropes. Lockwood helped show him the path.
“He happened to come by where I was playing. I was in my early twenties, and he was a professional guitarist,” said King. “I was terrible, but the people liked me because I had a good beat, a good tempo, and they could dance.”
Sometimes, that’s all you need to let the good times roll. But King had higher aspirations for his playing. He watched Lockwood like a hawk.
“My head was like a sponge,” said King. “Everything he did I wanted to learn. Everybody I hear play is doing something I wish I could do.”
And the sound coming from Lockwood’s guitar was exactly the sound in King’s head. King sure mastered the blues all right, but there was one jazz standard in Lockwood’s trick bag that he just couldn’t play.
“Robert Jr. Lockwood is one of the few people that played blues like I’d like to,” said King. “He didn’t just try to play blues, but anything he feel like he want to play. He was playing Count Basie’s One O’Clock Jump on the guitar, and I still can’t do it.”
