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He's Chicago's blues king today, ruling his domain just as his idol and mentor Muddy Waters did before him. Yet there was a time, and not all
that long ago, when Buddy Guy couldn't even negotiate a decent record deal. Times sure have changed for the better: Guy's first three
albums for Silvertone in the '90s all earned Grammys. Eric Clapton unabashedly calls Guy his favorite blues axeman, and so do a great
many adoring fans worldwide.
High-energy guitar histrionics and boundless on-stage energy have always been Guy trademarks, along with a tortured vocal style that's
nearly as dist ...read more
He's Chicago's blues king today, ruling his domain just as his idol and mentor Muddy Waters did before him. Yet there was a time, and not all
that long ago, when Buddy Guy couldn't even negotiate a decent record deal. Times sure have changed for the better: Guy's first three
albums for Silvertone in the '90s all earned Grammys. Eric Clapton unabashedly calls Guy his favorite blues axeman, and so do a great
many adoring fans worldwide.
High-energy guitar histrionics and boundless on-stage energy have always been Guy trademarks, along with a tortured vocal style that's
nearly as distinctive as his incendiary rapid-fire fretwork. He's come a long way from his beginnings on the '50s Baton Rouge blues scene;
at his first gigs with bandleader "Big Poppa" John Tilley, the young guitarist had to chug a stomach-jolting concoction of Dr. Tichenor's
antiseptic and wine to ward off an advanced case of stage fright. But by the time he joined harpist Raful Neal's band, Guy had conquered his
nervousness.
Guy journeyed to Chicago in 1957, ready to take the town by storm. But initially, times were tough, until he turned up the juice as a
showman (much as another of his early idols, Guitar Slim, had back home). It didn't take long after that for the new kid in town to establish
himself. He hung with the city's blues elite: Freddy King, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, and Magic Sam, who introduced Buddy Guy to Cobra
Records boss Eli Toscano. Two searing 1958 singles for Cobra's Artistic subsidiary were the result: "This Is the End" and "Try to Quit You
Baby" exhibited more than a trace of B.B. King's influence, while "You Sure Can't Do" was an unabashed homage to Guitar Slim. Willie Dixon
produced the sides.
When Cobra folded, Guy wisely followed Rush over to Chess. With the issue of his first Chess single in 1960, Guy was no longer aurally
indebted to anybody. "First Time I Met the Blues" and its follow-up, "Broken Hearted Blues," were fiery, tortured, slow blues brilliantly
showcasing Guy's whammy-bar-enriched guitar and shrieking, hellhound-on-his-trail vocals.
Although he's often complained that Leonard Chess wouldn't allow him to turn up his guitar loud enough, the claim doesn't wash: Guy's
1960-1967 Chess catalog remains his most satisfying body of work. A shuffling "Let Me Love You Baby," the impassioned downbeat items
"Ten Years Ago," "Stone Crazy," "My Time After Awhile," "Leave My Girl Alone," and a bouncy "No Lie" rate with the hottest blues waxings
of the '60s. While at Chess, Guy worked long and hard as a session guitarist, getting his licks in on sides by Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little
Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Koko Taylor (on her hit "Wang Dang Doodle").
Upon leaving Chess in 1967, Guy went to Vanguard. His first LP for the firm, A Man and the Blues, followed in the same immaculate vein as
his Chess work and contained the rocking "Mary Had a Little Lamb," but This Is Buddy Guy and Hold That Plane! proved somewhat less
consistent. Guy and harpist Junior Wells had long been friends and played around Chicago together (Guy supplied the guitar work on Wells'
seminal 1965 Delmark set Hoodoo Man Blues, initially billed as "Friendly Chap" because of his Chess contract); they recorded together for
Blue Thumb in 1969 as Buddy & the Juniors (pianist Junior Mance being the other Junior) and Atlantic in 1970 (sessions co-produced by
Eric Clapton and Tom Dowd), and 1972 for the solid album Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues. Buddy and Junior toured together
throughout the '70s, their playful repartee immortalized on Drinkin' TNT 'n' Smokin' Dynamite, a live set cut at the 1974 Montreux Jazz
Festival.
Guy's reputation among rock guitar gods such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Ray Vaughan was unsurpassed, but prior to his
Grammy-winning 1991 Silvertone disc Damn Right, I've Got the Blues, he amazingly hadn't issued a domestic album in a decade. That's
when the Buddy Guy bandwagon really picked up steam: he began selling out auditoriums and turning up on network television (David
Letterman, Jay Leno, etc.). Feels Like Rain, his 1993 encore, was a huge letdown artistically, unless one enjoys the twisted concept of
having one of the world's top bluesmen duet with country hat act Travis Tritt and hopelessly overwrought rock singer Paul Rodgers. By
comparison, 1994's Slippin' In, produced by Eddie Kramer, was a major step in the right direction, with no hideous duets and a
preponderance of genuine blues excursions. Last Time Around: Live at Legends, an acoustic outing with longtime partner Junior Wells,
followed in 1998. In 2001, Guy switched gears and went to Mississippi for a recording of the type of modal juke-joint blues favored by Junior
Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, and the Fat Possum crew. The result was Sweet Tea: arguably one of his finest albums and yet a complete
anomaly in his catalog. Oddly enough, he chose to follow that up with Blues Singer in 2003, another completely acoustic effort that won a
Grammy. For 2005's Bring 'Em In, it was back to the same template as his first albums for Silvertone, with polished production and a
handful of guest stars. Skin Deep appeared in 2008 and featured guest spots by Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, Eric Clapton, and Robert
Randolph. Snakebite was released in 2009, followed by Living Proof a year later in 2010.
A Buddy Guy concert can sometimes be a frustrating experience. He'll be in the middle of something downright hair-raising, only to break it
off abruptly in midsong, or he'll ignore his own massive songbook in order to offer imitations of Clapton, Vaughan, and Hendrix. But Guy,
whose club remains the most successful blues joint in Chicago (you'll likely find him sitting at the bar whenever he's in town), is without a
doubt the Windy City's reigning blues artist, and he rules benevolently. « hide |
Similar Bands: Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Bonamassa, Albert King Contributors: rockandmetaljunkie, rattlehead42147, gocsa666, manosg,
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