Vicksburg scene cover for B.B.’s newest album

Published 12:00 am Friday, August 29, 2008

If Vicksburg residents look closely at the cover of B.B. King’s latest album “One Kind Favor,” which was released on Tuesday, they might recognize the riverside scene King is surveying with his signature guitar “Lucille” strapped to his back.

The photograph was taken at the public landing beside the Yazoo Diversion Canal in Vicksburg on June 12, when King was in town to perform at the convention center. King announced at the concert, which drew an estimated 1,300 people, a photo taken in Vicksburg earlier that day would be used on the cover of the forthcoming album.

“One Kind Favor” has received rave reviews since its release, with Rolling Stone magazine giving it four of five stars and proclaiming “this isn’t just B.B. King’s best album in years, it’s one of the strongest studio sets of his career.”

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Meanwhile, a grand opening of the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in his hometown of Indianola is planned for Sept. 13 — three days before King will celebrate his 83rd birthday. The public is invited to the 10 a.m. ceremony, which King will also attend. The $14 million facility has been years in the making, and fans will have a chance to view it with admission fees waived over the weekend of the grand opening, said museum board of directors member Jim Abbot.

“This is really a first class, state of the art museum. It’s Smithsonian quality,” Abbot said. “He’s given us everything — all of his Grammys and awards, a lot of memorabilia from his career and many, many personal items.”