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Eric Clapton and B.B. King first took the stage together in 1967 - the former a young upstart then serving as one-third of power trio Cream and the latter already a veteran blues master. They didn't record together until 1997 when King called Clapton to guest on his Deuces Wild album of duets, and the experience left both men wanting more. Three years later, Clapton would release Riding with the King, featuring a dozen collaborations between the two guitarists. On June 26, Warner Records and Rhino will release a 20th anniversary expanded edition of the album boasting two unreleased tracks from the original sessions.
The album, first released in June 2000, found King revisiting a handful of his past classics (such as "Ten Long Years," "Days of Old," "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer," Lowell Fulson's "Three O'Clock Blues," and Charles Singleton's "Help the Poor") along with varied repertoire from songwriters including Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer ("Come Rain or Come Shine"), Isaac Hayes and David Porter ("Hold On, I'm Comin'"), John Hiatt (the title track), and Big Bill Broonzy and Charlie Segar ("Key to the Highway"). Clapton associate Doyle Bramhall II penned a couple of tracks, "Marry You" (with Susannah Melvoin and Craig Ross) and "I Wanna Be" (with Charlie Sexton). Clapton co-produced with his frequent collaborator Simon Climie, and musicians included Bramhall, Jim Keltner, Joe Sample, Steve Gadd, Nathan East, Andy Fairweather-Low, and Susannah and Wendy Melvoin. The renowned Arif Mardin arranged strings and orchestrated a couple of cuts.
Riding with the King made No. 1 on the Billboard Blues Albums survey and went on to a 2x Platinum certification as well as a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. The new edition premieres two tracks recorded during the original sessions and mixed by Simon Climie for this release: Willie Dixon's "Let Me Love You Baby" and the Delta blues standard first recorded by Hambone Willie Newbern, "Rollin' and Tumblin'." The former first appeared as a Japan-only bonus track for the original release, but appears to be presented in a new mix here.
The expanded Riding with the King is due on June 26 from Warner/Rhino. You'll find the track listing and pre-order links below.
Riding With The King: 20th Anniversary Edition (originally released as Duck/Reprise 47612, 2000 - reissued 2020) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
- Riding With The King
- Ten Long Years
- Key To The Highway
- Marry You
- Three O'clock Blues
- Help The Poor
- I Wanna Be
- Worried Life Blues
- Days Of Old
- When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer
- Hold On I'm Coming
- Come Rain Or Come Shine
- Rollin' and Tumblin'
- Let Me Love You Baby
Tracks 13-14 previously unreleased
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Any reason those tracks were held back 20 years (!) ago?
Hi Shaun! My guess is that 12 songs were deemed sufficient for an album and so these two were left behind. These weren't even mixed at the time, so likely they were eliminated from consideration fairly early in the process. Speaking from the perspective of someone who's produced numerous albums of previously unreleased material, I'd stress that this is no reflection on quality. Perhaps the tracks were deemed too stylistically similar to others on the LP, or the album already had filled its quotient of uptempo songs or ballads. They could have been shelved for any number of creative reasons, but I'm glad they're seeing the light of day now. (And how has it been 20 years?!?)
Thanks, Joe! I appreciate the perspective of someone who’s been in a similar position.
I was skeptical about the quality of those tracks, in spite of them being well-known Blues classics, but I understand what you’re saying. It was fine album already (Yes, 20 years seems to have flown by!), but this might just be worth the upgrade.
There was a non-album bonus track on the Japanese Riding With The King CD single back in the day called 'Let Me Love You'. Is that different from this new bonus track? Or are they being a little loose with "previously unreleased"?
Great find, Keith. Seems like this is a new mix of that track. “Previously unreleased in the U.S.” sounds like it would be more accurate.
Is the new version, not counting the two extra tracks, being remastered at all? Otherwise I see no reason to upgrade for two songs.
There was no specific mention of the mastering engineer in the press release, but I'd be hard-pressed to think of a recent major-label reissue that hasn't been remastered, especially one from a still-active artist in which the original producer is involved. We'll report back if we get any more information.