40-odd years worth of recording sessions, live dates and good times are stored in Earl King’s magnificently-coiffed head, and he possesses the uncanny ability to recall names and anecdotes from most of them.

“When you talk about things,” he explains, “there are so many things that are related to something...when I try to think back on things, people say, ‘Earl, you’ve got a good memory.’ What I try to do is remember one or two people or instances, and I connect the things that’s related to...