B.B. King

A Christmas Celebration of Hope (MCA) Given the many decades of good cheer B.B. King has spread around the globe, the King of the Blues might as well be Santa Claus. Turning opener “Please Come Home for Christmas” and guitar/organ instrumental stocking stuffer “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” into warm, nuzzly bedtime stories, King takes to the holiday classic like Kalhua to eggnog. That his first ever Xmas LP loses the twinkle in its eye soon after the winking of “Back Door Santa” is indeed blues inducing. Like Santa falling off your roof.

This article appears in December 21 • 2001.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.