The next performer inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2013 class was blues guitarist Albert King. Eligible since 1988, King died in 1992 so didn’t live to see his induction in his first nominated year (he would have to have lived to the ripe old age of 91 to do so).

King was born Albert Nelson, but changed his name to that of another blues legend, B.B. King, so he could pass himself off as the latter’s brother. B.B. King wasn’t crazy about that until he met Albert, saying “I got to know him and realized he was right; he wasn’t my brother in blood, but he sure was my brother in the blues.”

In the mid-60s, King traveled to Nashville and cut a series of singles for the Stax label. Those were released on an album titled Born Under a Bad Sign, with the title track becoming his signature song and popularizing the great quip “if it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.”

I enjoy this sort of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inclusion, where the artist might not be super well-known, but did have an outsized influence on future musicians. Watching John Mayer’s induction speech, you learn how the young guitarist found his way to King through Stevie Ray Vaughan, exactly the sort of passing of the baton the Rock Hall should celebrate.