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").
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.
Skin Deep appeared in 2008 and featured guest spots by
Susan Tedeschi,
Derek Trucks,
Eric Clapton, and
Robert Randolph.
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. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide
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