Chris Stapleton, Bonnie Raitt & Gary Clark, Jr. Pay Tribute to B.B. King With ‘The Thrill Is Gone’ at Grammys
“We honor a king that we lost this year,” Bonnie Raitt said in her introduction to the 2016 Grammy Awards’s B.B. King tribute, a fittingly guitar-centric take on the King’s classic, “The Thrill Is Gone.” Chris Stapleton was joined by Gary Clark, Jr. and Raitt and together, the trio of country and blues masterminds gave the song the all-star treatment.
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King’s version, released in 1969, hit No. 15 on the Hot 100 in 1970 and became one of his most beloved singles. The song, as well as most of his catalog, was brought back into the spotlight under tragic circumstances after the King of Blues died last May.
Stapleton (who already had two Grammys under his belt by the time he took the stage) and Clark, sporting Gibson guitars not so dissimilar from King’s beloved Lucille, kicked off the tribute performance, trading verses on the iconic song. Raitt, fresh off presenting a posthumous lifetime achievement award to R&B legend Ruth Brown, entered with a slide guitar solo of her own — eventually, each artist got to take a stab at emulating the King himself.
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