Pinetop Perkins celebrates his 95th birthday with his friends and Telarc Recordings with a new release Pinetop Perkins and Friends, slated for June 3rd. There are very few direct ties left to the golden age of post-World War II American blues – that seminal period in the 1940s and ’50s when the acoustic sounds of the Mississippi delta migrated northward and gave way to the more electric groove of northern locales like Chicago and St. Louis. With the passing of John Lee Hooker and Robert Lockwood Jr. in recent years, almost no one can claim any first-hand connection to seminal figures like Muddy Waters or harpist Sonny Boy Williamson.

Pinetop Perkins is among the few. Perkins, now in his 90s, has been playing blues and boogie piano for more than six decades. In that time, he’s had numerous encounters and collaborations with the aforementioned legends, as well as titans like Robert Nighthawk, Earl Hooker, B.B. King, Willie Dixon and Howlin’ Wolf.

Pinetop is joined by a dozen high-caliber musicians, many of them legendary in their own right, all of whom hold him in the highest regard. Included on the star-studded guest list are Eric Clapton, Willie Kent, B.B. King, Jimmie Vaughan and many more.