He got really upset at me and gave me a spanking and all that. My mother would let me play the guitar and tell me "Put it away! Your dad will be home within the hour." So I put it away and she never said a word to him, until one day I broke the little E string. I'd been watching their fingering and all these other things and I wanted to try them. He would always say, "When I go to work, don't touch my guitar." And me being a kid, that's like hearing the opposite. You know, I'm a young man wanting to be my dad and that whole thing. Basically, I would just sit there and stare at them because I loved the music.
They'd play all these blues songs that are classics today. I basically fell in love because my father and his brother, Uncle Luther, used to jam every weekend with their guitars. When I was really, really young-I'm saying around five-my parents always listened to Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, B.B. What's your foundation in this artform? How did you grow from that soil, so to speak? Under Your Spell is framed as a return to your blues roots. This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. caught up with Tito Jackson about how the blues runs in his famous family, where the American form fits into the modern music landscape and the realizations that led to his better-late-than-never solo career. And thanks to his rock-solid, unpretentious delivery, his joy becomes our joy too. King's "Rock Me Baby"-it just feels good for him to sing the blues, simple as that. But as originals like "Wheels Keep Turning," "Love One Another" and "That Kind of Love" attest-to say nothing of B.B. Earthy, upbeat and feel-good-with elements of funk and R&B throughout-it's the product of a man with a one-of-a-kind legacy and nothing to prove. That album is Under Your Spell, which was released Aug. 6. Read More: George Benson Talks Tribute Album To Chuck Berry & Fats Domino: "The Songs are Still Ripe"