How Blue Can You Get? B.B. King, Planetary Humanism and the Blues behind Bars

This article honours the memory of blues musician B.B. King, who died on 14 May 2015, through focusing on his performances in prisons. The article situates his concerts inside Cook County jail and Sing Sing within the wider political crisis during the 1970s surrounding issues of race and class in th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Theory, culture & society Vol. 32; no. 7-8; pp. 274 - 285
Main Author:	Back, Les
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London, England SAGE Publications 01-12-2015 Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects:	African Americans Blues music Correctional system Deaths Heads of state Humanism Imprisonment King, B B Memory Monarchy Music Musicians Musicians & conductors Prisons Race Racism Social classes Studies United States United States > US Paul Gilroy African American music B.B. King planetary humanism blues prisons
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Summary:	This article honours the memory of blues musician B.B. King, who died on 14 May 2015, through focusing on his performances in prisons. The article situates his concerts inside Cook County jail and Sing Sing within the wider political crisis during the 1970s surrounding issues of race and class in the American prison system. It suggests the historical resonance of these events can be interpreted through using Paul Gilroy’s notion of planetary humanism. The tone of B.B. King’s guitar carries both the historical trace of African American experience while at the same time voicing a humanistic sensibility beyond the brutalities of racism and incarceration.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0263-2764 1460-3616
DOI:	10.1177/0263276415605579