“You only get one shot to do this correctly. And I think we nailed it”: Joe Bonamassa once called Eric Clapton his favorite guitar player of all time. Now, the two blues greats are set to collaborate on a B.B. King classic

Joe Bonamassa's mammoth tribute project to B.B. King was announced in September, with the unveiling of a star-studded list of collaborators.

However, Bonamassa has managed to squeeze two more music legends into the credits list, as he's now set to team up with Eric Clapton and Chaka Khan on King's timeless classic, The Thrill Is Gone.

The highly anticipated collaboration between the two blues guitar greats will arrive alongside the full album, B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100, on February 6.

It's set to be a momentous link-up, both for fans and for Bonamassa himself. After all, in one of his Guitar World columns last year, JoBo named Clapton as his favorite singer/songwriter and guitar player of all time.

In a separate piece posted to his own website, Bonamassa said of Clapton's influence, "I find that the higher you go up the ladder sometimes, the more humble and nice people are.

"That's truly the case of Eric Clapton; he's my hero and the reason I play the way I play, just basically one of those guys who plus the guitar straight into an amp and it sounds like him."

The two had previously traded licks on Bobby Bland's Texas shuffle Further On Up The Road at Bonamassa’s career-shifting Royal Albert Hall performance in 2009 – immortalized on the Live From The Royal Albert Hall album.

In the meantime, fans can take a deep dive into more King classic covers with the recently released B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100, Vol. III.

This volume sees Bonamassa link up with Buddy Guy on Sweet Little Angel, Larkin Poe on Don’t You Want A Man Like Me, Trombone Shorty and Eric Gales on Heartbreaker, Jimmie Vaughan on Watch Yourself, and Larry McCray on When It All Comes Down (I’ll Still Be Around).

B.B King's Blues Summit 100 Teaser - YouTube

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Produced by Bonamassa and Josh Smith, B.B. King’s Blues Summit 100 continues to unfurl in monthly installments up until its February release date, when the full 32-track album will officially be released.

“When B.B. was alive and active, he was the blues – he was the sun which all planets rotated around,” says Bonamassa. “You only get one shot to do this correctly. And I think we nailed it.”

As for what we can expect from the Bonamassa–Clapton–Khan collaboration, the Nerdville owner remains tight-lipped.