The Three Kings

Bio

The Three Kings pay tribute to BB King, Albert King and Freddie King.

Rick Booth, President of Intrepid Artists Int’l came up with the concept after a combination of casual phone calls with a few of the artists he represents, Chris Cain, D.K. Harrell and Albert Castiglia. It was blatantly obvious from the get-go that, as a kid, Little Village Recording Artist, D.K. Harrell studied all of BB Kings moves, and wanted to follow in The King’s path. He even resembles BB on stage with the way he conducts himself, holds his guitar, his facial expressions, mannerisms and certainly his playing style. Harrell tells Booth of the time he met BB. He recalls, It was January 2013 at The Baton Rouge River Center Theatre. My Mom took me and we sat in the Orchestra pit, Row S. D.K. laughs and says, I had my hair “conked” just like BB wore his back in 1955. After the show, D.K. went up to the stage to try and speak with Mr King. He hollered for BB and the Blues Legend came over to the side of the stage, extended his hand, and the two shook hands and BB gave D.K. a pic. D.K. told BB, he wanted to be like him and BB told D.K. he had spotted him in the audience and gave the young D.K. a piece of advice. He said, Be the Best You, that You can be! The young guitarist was in aw and broke down in tears of joy before leaving the theatre, not knowing at the time, that in just 5 years, he would be holding and playing Lucille at the BB King Symposium in Indianola, MS. D.K. believes that BB played Blues that Everyone could relate to, even young kids.

Booth was talking with Alligator Recording Artist, Chris Cain and his wife, Suzy one day on the phone, when the topic of “The Kings” came up and while Chris expressed his fondness for BB, saying  My greatest influence when I first picked up the guitar was BB King, He went on to tell Booth, how a friendship between the legendary blues artist, Albert Kingand himself began on a night that The Chris Cain Band opened for Albert King at JJ’s in San Jose, Ca. Albert invited Chris up to the stage to play guitar with his band and was impressed with Cain’s unique guitar riffs and sound. Albertwould surprise Chris by coming to his shows whenever Cain and his band played in Memphis, and he was in town. In fact, one time while playing the Memphis in May Festival, Chris had just ended a song when the audience roared louder than ever. Chris couldn’t figure out what it was about the song they liked so much. But he then smelled pipe smoke, turned around and there was Albert King, sitting on the amp behind him, smoking his pipe and smilin’. There was a genuine fondness between the two. The conversations over beers with this Blues Giant left a lifelong impression and love for Albert King, on the young Chris Cain.  After the phone call, Chris’ wife, Suzy followed up the call by sending Booth pictures of Chris in his younger days hanging out and playing next to Albert.

Speaking of Albert, Booth called up his friend, Gulf Coast Recording Artist, Albert Castiglia and was like, Didn’t you tell me that you were a huge Freddie King fan? The answer was a resounding Yes! Albert says, When I was in high school, Eric Clapton was my guitar hero.  I listened to everything he put out, Cream, Derek & The Dominos, Blind Faith, his solo stuff, everything. I also read nearly every article and interview he did in those days of my youth. Freddie King’s name came up in most of Clapton’s interviews. At a round 17 years old, I bought the posthumous Freddie King release “Freddie King 1934-1976“. Soon after that, I bought and listened to his catalogue in reverse, starting with his latter releases with Shelter Records all the way through his Cotillion Records releases to his first recordings on the King Records subsidiary label, Federal. You can’t go wrong no matter which direction you go. Freddie’s guitar attack and phrasing, along with his beautiful vocals made him a hero in my eyes. So powerful, such a force of nature he was. He is my King of the Blues!

Booth said at times he has been hesitant to put together super groups and packages like this because of egos and money. He says, Both have been known to get in the way of a good thing. With that said, these are three of the nicest, most humble guys on earth and I immediately had ideas churning in my head. He knew immediately they would have great chemistry and have a good time playing together doing what they love. It just seemed like a No Brainer. He thought, All three artists are lethal in their own right, but combine the three of them together to pay tribute to BB, Albert and Freddie and you really got something there! After a quick zoom call with the guys, it was easy to see that this was going to be exciting for everyone involved… Especially the Fans! All three of these talented musicians were committed and The Three Kings were formed.

The Three Kings look to deliver a blazing show chocked full of wicked guitar licks, fan favorites, but also a few more obscure, hidden gems that they each love to play. The backing band consists of Bass, Drums, Keys, Sax and Trumpet and’s gonna make you want to get up, out of your seat and shake your thang! The Three Kings are sure to be the talk of a few select festivals in the late summer and early fall of 2024 and plan on doing more dates together in 2025.

Be on the look out for ‘em and expect Albert Castiglia, Chris Cain and D.K. Harrell to Play the Blues for You!