I'll Play The Blues For You (Parts 1 & 2)

Recorded in 1972 for the Stax album I'll Play the Blues for You, with Albert King accompanied by the Bar-Kays, the Movement, and the Memphis Horns. Allen Jones and Henry Bush arranged and produced the session, with Bush and William Brown credited as engineers. Released by Stax in 1972, I'll Play the Blues for You became the title track of one of King's central 1970s albums. Its extended two-part single format put his vocal authority and spare guitar phrasing into a lean Memphis rhythm-section setting. The recording remains one of King's signature Stax-era performances and a durable slow-blues standard. Its groove and guitar tone helped keep the song in later blues repertoires and made it a frequent point of entry into King's post-Born Under a Bad Sign catalogue.