Your mentioning Albert King reminded me of something I was talking with some friends about recently. After I got into SRV, I got really into blues. Since I was more into hard rock and classic rock it was a change for me. This was my junior year at Nebraska. Lincoln has a really cool blues bar called the Zoo Bar and my buddies and I started frequenting that place. We would go at least once a week. Now in my older years, I look back at some of the guys that I saw back then and wish I would have appreciated it more. I saw Albert, Buddy Guy, Pinetop Perkins, Charlie Musselwhite, Robert Cray, Albert Collins, Matt Guitar Murphy, Little Ed and the Blues Imperials, Luther Allison and Magic Slim who played there several times a year. There were a bunch of others but my memory is failing me.
What I wouldn’t give to go back in a time machine and see those shows again.
Whoever was booking acts at that bar had pretty good taste. Albert King and Albert Collins are two of my absolute favorites. When I was in school I was blessed to have a dive bar nearby which booked good local Nashville area blues talent. No one as high profile as who you mention but still some great talent.