Few people have done more for the Blues than Dick Waterman. As agent and manager in the 1960s, his Avalon Productions directed the careers of Son House, whom he personally rediscovered, Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Mance Lipscomb, Arthur Crudup, Fred McDowell, and on a band level Waterman managed Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Magic Sam, Luther Allison, and J. B. Hutto. To add to an already stellar career Waterman, for B.B. Kings 80th birthday celebrated this past September, helped the King give us gift after gift in his book The B.B. King Treasures. King gives readers eight inserts filled with facsimiles of treasures from his personal collection. In addition to his lengthy interviews with King, Waterman collected personal stories from people like Bill Ferris, Bruce Iglauer, Little Milton, Bobby Rush, Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt, Ruth Brown, Pervis Spann, Charles Evers, Eric Clapton, Steve Miller, and Kings personal management friends Sid Seidenberg and Floyd Lieberman. Also included is a CD with Kings personal introduction to the project, a 1974 interview with Bill Ferris, three cuts from a 1970 interview, three cuts from Kings speech to the National Press Club in 1996, and three more from Kings XM radio interview with Bill Wax on Martin Luther Kings birthday in 2004, and many other surprises. This is a Blues lovers treasure.
