WASHINGTON — One of blues legend B.B. King’s most memorable shows in the Washington, D.C. area was at an out-of-the-ordinary venue — Lorton Reformatory.
King died Thursday, at age 89.
“In the summer and autumn of 1971, B.B. was playing concerts at prisons, part of an outreach program bringing music to jails and prisons,” says longtime DJ Cerphe, formerly of WHFS, and now with Music Planet Radio.
Cerphe and other media members were invited to a press junket to see King play a concert for inmates at Lorton Reformatory, which was built in 1910 and housed its last inmates in 2001.
“We had to go by bus,” Cerphe recalled. “There was a whole bunch of us radio people, newspaper people. Because the Beltway was still a relatively new road, it was a very long ride from downtown D.C. to Lorton.”
In the summer and autumn of 1971 B.B. was playing concerts at prisons, part of an outreach program bringing music to jails and prisons.
One of the performances was memorialized in “B.B. King Live at Cook County Jail,” recorded at the detention facility in Chicago.
“Many of the songs on that album, including ‘Everyday I Have the Blues,’ ‘How Blue Can You Get,’ ‘The Thrill is Gone,’ ‘Worry, Worry’ and ‘Sweet Sixteen’ were also played at that show he did in Lorton,” Cerphe said.
King’s performance was well received.
“B.B.’s music is so inspiring and soulful, the inmates really seemed to enjoy the music,” said Cerphe. “Life imitating art — blues in prison.”
Cerphe, whose full name is Cerphe Colwell, said King and his record label took cues from Johnny Cash, who had success with an album recorded at Folsom State Prison, four years before King’s prison tour.
“B.B. King sat down with all of us on that press junket to Lorton that day, and told us he wanted to get his music to everybody. Including inmates,” said Cerphe.
King’s recording of the show in Chicago hit number one on Billboard’s U.S. Rhythm and Blues charts.
“The album got a lot of FM play, and helped revitalize B.B.’s career,” said Cerphe. “And it gave listeners an interesting perspective on prison life, just listening to that recording.”
