Bnois King
| Bnois King | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 21, 1943 Delhi, Louisiana |
| Genres | Jazz, Blues, Texas blues |
| Occupation(s) | blues guitarist, vocalist, composer |
| Instruments | rhythm guitar |
| Years active | 1951–present |
| Labels | Rounder Records, Blind Pig, Delta Groove Music, Alligator Records |
| Associated acts | Smokin' Joe Kubek |
Bnois King (born January 21, 1943) (pronounced "buh-noise") is a Texas Blues and Jazz guitar player, vocalist, and composer. He most often played guitar and rhythm guitar, and acted as the main vocalist and original song writer for the Smokin' Joe Kubek Band, touring and equally billed with Kubek after 1997.
King was born January 21, 1943, in Delhi, Louisiana, a small town thirty miles east of Monroe, Louisiana. He had seven brothers and two sisters. King started playing guitar at the early age of eight when he found an unused guitar in his grandmother's closet and started picking out notes. He attended Boley High School, which lacked a music teacher until his final year there. Up until then, the few songs he could play he played by ear. While still in high school, James Moody, the owner and bandleader of a 20-piece big band out of New Orleans (called "The New Sounds"), took him under his wing and gave him his first paying gig, for which King made $15. Once King realized he could make money playing guitar on stage is when he reports "...I really got serious" about playing guitar."
"...the first gig I ever played... paid me $15 [for the night]. At the time I was working on a milk truck. I had to get up at 2 o'clock in the morning to deliver milk and that was only paying $15 a week! So I said 'Hey! What's wrong with this picture?' All I was doing was holding my guitar and I got a whole weeks pay. I knew right then I wasn't going to run behind a milk truck getting chased by dogs any more..." —Bnois King
After high school, King traveled to west Texas (Amarillo), Colorado and Oklahoma, and finally settled in north Texas (Wichita Falls) while trying to break into the music industry and make a career from it. Struggling at first in the industry, King sometimes found himself playing at carnival side shows or working 'straight jobs' (such as detailing cars at a dealership). King was, however, again performing regularly in Dallas and Fort Worth by the late 70s, usually playing with jazz bands. playing with Big Joe Williams along with other local talent, often out of a local Dallas blues spot, Poor David's Pub.
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Wikipedia