“I think about him, ‘What would B.B. King do?’” How Justin Lyons is channeling the King of the Blues in mgk’s punk-rock band – and he even has his own Lucille

B.B. King is the undisputed King of the Blues but his influence extends far and wide, beyond blues guitar, through generations.

And, if you catch Machine Gun Kelly’s (mgk) blockbuster show, you’ll see his influence there, too – because for touring guitarist Justin Lyons, aka “GuitarSlayer,” B.B. King was the original source, the one who lit the spark.

Speaking to Premier Guitar, Lyons reveals that he discovered B.B. King before he was even in first grade, and this is why you’ll find an Epiphone Lucille making its debut in his touring lineup.

“This is my baby, right here. For those [who don’t know me], I’m Justin Lyons, and I started playing at age five, and my first cassette tape that my mom ever gave me was The Thrill Is Gone by B.B. King,” he says.

Lyons didn’t have a guitar yet. He didn’t need one to play along.

“I was standing in front of that mirror with my broom,” he says. “And I would just go at it, man. [Laughs] And my mom was like, ‘Yo, let me get this kid a real guitar.’”

We might ordinarily associate him with PRS Guitars – the solidbody electric guitar is his bread and butter. But, like B.B. King, Lyons has lost his heart to Lucille. He admits it’s hard to pick it up and not think about the King of the Blues. What Lyons wants to do is honor that, but in his own special way.

“It’s just kind of nostalgia for me,” he says. “I think about B.B. King – what would B.B. King do? Where it’s this punk rock, but even just a thrill or something like that for a particular song. But, yeah, this is one of my favorite pieces, man.”

There have been many Lucilles over the years – Gibson replicas, Epiphone guitars, too – but none quite like Lyons’. His Epiphone has a custom graphic he painted himself.

“I’ve had this guitar maybe three years now, and I was like, ‘Yo, let me paint something to make it like a signature [model],” he says. “I create. I’m a painter as well. So I just painted a little signature piece on top of it, and it sings to me every time.”

In other B.B. King news, today (February 6) Joe Bonamassa releases his epic, all-star tribute to the King of the Blues, B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100, featuring guest spots from Marcus King, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, Slash, Keb’ Mo’, Eric Gales and more.

You can order B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100 via KTBA now.

Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to publications including Guitar World, MusicRadar and Total Guitar. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.