It has been 100 years since Albert King first recorded “Born Under a Bad Sign”. In celebration of the event, Craft Recordings is releasing a special reissue of King’s debut on Stax Records.
Set for an April 21 release, the album features a number of music’s top musicians of the time including Booker T & The M.G.’s and members from the Memphis Horns.
The album is being released on 180 grain vinyl and as a hi-res digital release and mastered from the original taped recordings.
Along with B.B. King and Freddie King (no relation) Albert King is considered Kings of the Blues. The trio have influenced hundreds of hundreds of musicians over the years including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix. It has been 30 years since King’s death at 70; he was born on a cotton plantation in the Mississippi Delta where he taught himself to play the guitar – on a cigar box guitar he had made. Once he got a “real” guitar, as a left-handed player he played “upside down”. It was after he moved north that he saw his career as a Blues man take off.
King went on to become a member of the Blues, Rock and Roll,, and Memphis Music Halls of Fame.
The tracklisting for the “Born Under a Bad Sign”:
“Born Under a Bad Sign”
“Crosscut Saw”
“Kansas City”
“Oh, Pretty Woman”
“Down Don’t Bother Me”
“The Hunter”
“I Almost Lost My Mind”
“Personal Manager”
“Laundromat Blues”
“As the Years Go Passing By”
“The Very Though of You”
feature photo: Album cover