Hundreds attend B.B. King funeral in hometown

INDIANOLA, Miss. – B.B. King’s early life personified the blues: He was born to dirt-poor sharecroppers in the cotton country of the Mississippi Delta and left alone by the deaths of his mother and grandmother when he was a child. But he never let those circumstances hold him back or define him, a minister said Saturday at the funeral of the blues legend.

“Hands that once picked cotton would someday pick guitar strings on a national and international stage. Amazing,” the Rev. Herron Wilson said in a standing-room-only sanctuary at Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church in King’s hometown of Indianola, Mississippi.

King, whose distinctive guitar style influenced generations of entertainers, was 89 when he died May 14 in Las Vegas. At his request, his body was returned to his native Mississippi for a final homecoming.

“He will forever be the king of the blues,” Stevie Wonder said in a spoken tribute that was played at the funeral, although he did not attend.

About 500 people filled the sanctuary of the church, a red brick structure that sits in a field off of B.B. King Road in Indianola. More than 200 people who couldn’t get into the sanctuary watched a live broadcast of the funeral in the church’s fellowship hall, many waving hand-held fans with a black-and-white photo of a smiling King hugging his black electric guitar, Lucille.

Christopher Clouser, a businessman and longtime friend of King, said King instructed him to deliver several messages during the funeral. He sent love to family and friends and thanked his bandmates and other entertainers.

Clouser said King also wanted people to know how uncomfortable he was “riding in the back of the car that Eric was driving” – a reference to “Riding With the King,” an album that King and Eric Clapton released in 2000 with a cover photo of the two guitarists on a road trip.

Country singer Marty Stuart said King created a musical legacy for the home state they share.

“As a fellow Mississippian, I’m so proud to stand in his shadow as I walk across the world,” Stuart said.

On the way into the church, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant recalled spending time with King in the bluesman’s tour bus before a concert last year in Indianola. Bryant said King was proud of being from Mississippi.

Noting the thousands of people who came to Indianola for the public viewing Friday and funeral Saturday, Bryant said: “He would have loved to know that one more time he’s helping the Mississippi Delta.”

President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton each sent a letter, and those were read aloud by Democratic U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, a friend of King.

Clinton recalled playing two gigs with King: “I was his backup sax man.”