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 either, 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
Buddy 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 1950s 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
times were tough initially, 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 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," and "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 and 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
back 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.
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 mid-song, 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. Bill Dahl, All
Music Guide
ALBUMS
Hoodoo Man Blues 1965 Delmark w/ Junior Wells band Chicago/The Blues/Today! vol. 1 1966 Vanguard w/ Junior Wells band It’s my Life, Baby! 1966 Vanguard w/ Junior Wells band I Left My Blues in San Francisco 1967 Chess Berlin festival - Guitar Workshop 1967 MPS Long Play released in Argentina by Microphone Argentina S.A. (1974) A Man and the Blues 1968 Vanguard Coming At You 1968 Vanguard Blues Today 1968 Vanguard This Is Buddy Guy (live) 1968 Vanguard Hot And Cool 1969 Vanguard First Time I Met the Blues-Python 1969 Buddy and the Juniors 1970 MCA w/ Junior Mance & Junior Wells South Side Blues Jam 1970 Delmark w/ Junior Wells and Otis Spann In The Beginning 1971 Red Lightnin’ Play The Blues 1972 Rhino w/ Junior Wells Hold That Plane! 1972 Vanguard I Was Walking Through the Woods 1974 Chess rec. 1960–64 Got to Use Your House 1979 Blues Ball Stone Crazy 1981 Alligator Alone & Acoustic 1981 Alligator w/ Junior Wells, France release only Drinkin' TNT 'n' Smokin' Dynamite (live) 1982 Blind Pig rec. 1974 Montreux Jazz Festival DJ Play My Blues 1982 JSP Records Dollar Done Fell 1982 JSP Records Buddy Guy 1983 Chess The Original Blues Brothers (live) 1983 Blue Moon Ten Blue Fingers 1985 JSP Records Atlantic Blues: Chicago 1986 Atlantic Chess Masters 1987 Charly) Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago-1979 1988 JSP Records Breaking Out 1988 JSP Records I Ain’t Got No Money 1989 Flyright Alone & Acoustic 1991 Alligator reissue, rec. 1981 w/ Junior Wells Damn Right, I've Got the Blues 1991 Silvertone/BMG Buddy's Baddest: The Best of Buddy Guy 1991 Silvertone My Time After Awhile 1992 Vanguard The Very Best of Buddy Guy 1992 Rhino/WEA The Complete Chess Studio Recordings 1992 Chess 2 CD, 1960–67 Live at Montreaux 1992 Evidence w/ Junior Wells Feels Like Rain 1993 Silvertone Slippin' In 1994 Silvertone Live: The Real Deal 1996 Silvertone Buddy's Blues 1997 Chess "Chess Masters" Buddy’s Blues 1978-1982: The Best of the JSP Recordings 1998 JSP Records As Good As It Gets 1998 Vanguard Heavy Love 1998 Silvertone Last Time Around - Live at Legends 1998 Jive w/Junior Wells This Is Buddy Guy 1998 VMD Blues Master 1998 Vanguard Buddy’s Baddest: The Best of Buddy Guy 1999 Silvertone The Complete Vanguard Recordings 2000 Vanguard Every Day I Have the Blues 2000 Purple Pyramid w/ Junior Wells 20th Century Masters: The Millennium: The Best of Buddy Guy 2001 MCA Sweet Tea 2001 Silvertone Double Dynamite 2001 AIM Recording Co. Import Blues Singer 2003 Silvertone Chicago Blues Festival 1964 (live) 2003 Stardust Jammin’ Blues Electric & Acoustic 2003 Sony a compilation of tracks from Live: The Real Deal and Last Time Around - Live At Legends Live At the Mystery Club 2003 Quicksilver the same recording as Every Day I Have The Blues A Night of the Blues 2005 w/ Junior Wells - Master Classics - the same recording as Every Day I Have The Blues Bring 'Em In 2005 Jive Can't Quit The Blues:Box Set 2006 Silvertone/Legacy Recordings Live: The Real Deal 2006 Sony w/ G.E. Smith & Saturday Night Live Band Skin Deep 2008 Zomba The Definitive Buddy Guy 2009 Shout! Factory his first single-disc career-spanning CD
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