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BB and his beloved Lucille

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It's been three years since BB King last sat hunched over his beloved Gibson Lucille on UK stages, when he was supposedly performing his 'Farewell Tour'.

After an unparalleled career spanning more than half a century, it seemed the 80-year-old Beale Street bluesman was finally calling it a day.

The cotton fields of Indianola and the 300-gig-a-year grind of the 'chitlin' circuit were all far behind him, but BB's punishing tour schedules would make a man 40 years his junior think about getting some early nights.

Still, it's clear that the Chairman Of The Blues Board isn't aiming to hang up Lucille yet. He added his increasingly regal presence to Eric Clapton's 2007 Crossroads Benefit, rocked out alongside John Mayer at the 2008 Grammy Nomination Concert and brought the rafters down at the 2008 Chicago Blues Festival.

Then there was the release last year of One Kind Favor, a visceral collection of rhythm'n'blues songs that explored the byways and backwaters of BB's early days, and turned out to be his finest release in years.

England has always enjoyed a special place in BB's affections, and he's never made any secret of the debt he owes to Eric Clapton for name checking him back in the 1960s.

A return was inevitable. According to BB, "I decided that I would come over because I miss coming to Europe, I'm feeling well and I wanted to come back and see you guys one more time."

All the better for us.Time for an audience with the man himself…

How did your last release One Kind Favor come about?

"The album was produced by T-Bone Burnett, and his idea was to record some of the sounds that would have been heard on the radio back when I was starting out, and then have me do them my way.

"When we first got together to talk about the project, he wrote down about 20 songs that he liked and then had me do the same – we came up with what you hear!

"We just thought it was a good time to do them, and a good try if it didn't work!

"I had Dr John playing piano, we've recorded a lot together – he's always a treat to have around because he's got a natural style."

From your earliest days back in Memphis when you recorded She's Dynamite with Sam Phillips, you've made a point of covering old songs. Do you do it in any conscious sense to keep the blues tradition alive?

"No, I never even thought of that. She's Dynamite was a 100 years ago and I recorded that song because the company thought that it was a great song and it was hot.

"That was the beginning of rock'n'roll and I guess they thought it would be a BB King version of rock'n'roll.

"A lot of people think that Sam Phillips [legendary rock'n'roll producer] produced some of those records but he had nothing to do with the choice of songs, he was just the engineer.

"At the time I was with the Bihari Brothers on RPM [founders of Modern Records in LA, and RPM, Flair and Meteor records in Memphis].

"They'd tell the studio that any time their artist was in town and had something to record, let them work in their studio and send them the bill.

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