ISSUE #29 MMUSICMAG.COM ISSUE #29 MMUSICMAG.COM MUSICIAN Why release a two-disc set? buy a guitar, and did it on time. I tell him essential guy For that I have to thank my drummer and that every time I see him. I say, “B., you’re producer, Tom Hambridge. We went into the cause of me having to pay monthly the studio looking for a dozen songs, and payments for a guitar.” HOODOO MAN we were getting a pretty good groove, BLUES (1965) everybody was smiling—and suddenly we What’s behind your trademark playing Buddy Guy’s working had 18 songs, then 22. The guys at the while walking beyond the stage? relationship with label called me in and I thought, “Let me get When I started, all the blues guitar players harmonica ace Junior ready for the pink slip.” But they had smiles were sitting in chairs—even Muddy. But I had Wells reached an early on their faces and said, “We want you to do seen Guitar Slim stand up, and I thought, peak on this consummate mid-’60s Chicago a double album.” “Hey, I’m going to jump off the bar and run blues set. It documents the telepathic off through the crowd!” Somebody said, interplay between these giants and their What’s behind the title Rhythm & Blues? “He’s a nut, he’s wild,” but I got attention. bandmates on both slow blues and hyper I’ve been in Chicago 57 years, and when We used to have guitar battles, trying to get uptempo soul. I first came, everything was R&B. It was a that dollar a night. fast boogie-woogie beat that black people THIS IS BUDDY GUY! were dancing to. Then in the ’60s they Didn’t Chess Records change your style? (1968) started branding it. First it was Chicago Leonard Chess would hear me and say, On his first live album, blues, then it became West and South “That ain’t nothing but noise.” I was playing Guy is hell-bent on Side blues. But when I came to Chicago, with distortion, and they said, “If you’re showing what he’s made Muddy Waters and I were playing all over going to play like that, get out of here.” of. The guitar solos are the city. There was no such thing as South So I had to play the type of blues they got scorching, and the songs—including R&B and West Side, Memphis or Motown. rich off of, which was Muddy Waters and staples “Knock on Wood” and “Fever”—display Everything was R&B. Robert Lockwood Jr. They weren’t ready for his versatility. By the time he wraps with the the screaming and distortion I was doing. near chaotic “I’m Not the Best,” Buddy Guy What drew you to the guitar? Around 1967, Leonard sent for me. I had has proven he’s exactly that. Growing up, my parents didn’t have never even been in his office. He said, “I want electricity. We had no radio. But every you to kick me in my butt.” I said, “For what?” DAMN RIGHT, I’VE

r Christmas, a guy would come through with He put on a record by Cream and said, “This GOT THE BLUES C a r ecords is the stuff you brought here and we were (1991) too dumb to listen.” When Guy released this ‘Even at 77, I album he’d been off the What else did Chess want to change? radar for several years. still have to prove In the beginning they wanted me to play But rave reviews and commercial success like B.B. King, and I must say nobody’s ever jump-started a still-thriving second career I can play.’ going to fill those shoes. They even wanted phase. Guest drop-ins by Eric Clapton, Jeff buddy guy me to change my name from Buddy Guy to Beck and Mark Knopfler offer star power, A guitar icon continues his five-decade mission to keep the blues alive an acoustic guitar playing Lonnie Johnson Buddy King. When I finally met B.B. and told but there’s never a doubt that Guy is the songs. And of course you had Lightnin’ him, he said that his real name was Riley. So master here. by Jeff Tamarkin Hopkins and Arthur Crudup. A friend had I told Leonard Chess that if I put out a 45 an old phonograph where you used to crank as Buddy King, my mama’s going to have a SWEET TEA When blues guitar legend buddy guy performed up armloads of honors, among them a national medal of the arts, the spring to play the 78s. Man, I heard stroke. So I stuck with Buddy Guy, and they (2001) at the White house last year, the significance of the event didn’t the Kennedy Center honors, six grammys and induction into both that and I was walking around stretching finally accepted me. Either a favorite of escape him. “i told president obama that where i grew up, i didn’t the rock and roll and blues halls of fame. today, guy is one of rubber bands against my ear. My mother or despised by Guy even know what running water was until i was nearly 17,” guy the last surviving links to the classic era of Chicago blues. “When got a piece of screen wire to keep those What are your thoughts on the British fans, this record can’t remembers. “i said, ‘mr. president, picking a guitar in the White all the greats were still living—i’m talking about howlin’ Wolf, muddy, Louisiana mosquitoes from lifting you off blues-rock bands of the ’60s? be ignored. Following house is a long way from picking cotton in louisiana.’” Junior Wells—we used to sit and have a drink and say, ‘if i go before the bed. I would strip all that screen wire to I remember when the Stones came to attempts to make inroads with the blues- Allen Clarke indeed, guy has come a long way in his 77 years. migrating you, i want you to keep that goddamn blues alive,’” he says. “then try to make a guitar string. I would drive two Chicago in the middle of one of my sessions. rock crowd, Guy cut his most rootsy record. from the deep south to Chicago at age 20, he built a reputation one day you wake up and they’re all gone.” nails in the wall and stretch it to pick at. That I had never seen a white man with hair that Some tracks are nasty in a Tom Waits-ish as one of the most exciting and versatile artists on the blues scene. With that in mind, guy has released Rhythm & Blues, a was the beginning of me. long. Then Clapton and Beck and all of them way, while others hearken back to the Delta as a member of muddy Waters’ band, house guitarist at storied collection of all-new recordings on two discs—one titled Rhythm, came along. To be honest, they did more for blues and Chicago sounds Guy grew up on. Chess records, and ultimately as a solo artist, his influence on then the other Blues. featuring guest contributions from gary Clark Jr., When did you first hear the blues? us than those who were ripping us off. They up-and-comers like Jimi hendrix, Jeff beck, eric Clapton, stevie Kid rock, beth hart, Keith urban, and aerosmith mainstays steven I heard it before I left Louisiana. Little Walter let the world know who we were. I’ve got to THE DEFINITIVE ray Vaughan, led Zeppelin and the rolling stones is incalculable. tyler, Joe perry and brad Whitford, it’s as solid an album as he’s was from Marksville, La., near where I was give them credit for that. When the Stones BUDDY GUY even as his acolytes heaped praise on him, widespread success made in years. “i’m so excited about it,” says guy. “all i want to do born. He had already recorded “Juke,” and started getting big, there was a TV show (2009) eluded guy until a couple of decades ago. since then, he’s picked is keep playing the blues.” Muddy Waters had made “Louisiana Blues,” called Shindig!. Mick agreed to do the show This 17-song set is the and Howlin’ Wolf had made hit records. only if they’d let him bring on Howlin’ Wolf. most concise and far- And there was Guitar Slim and B.B. King, Even now, sometimes a kid will come up and reaching, covering all ‘you can’t name me one musician who retires. We too. I had thought about driving a tractor say, “I didn’t know who you were, but I read of the major bases: Chess and Vanguard or pickin’ cotton, but when B.B. came out what Clapton said about you.” Even at 77, I label recordings, Junior Wells collaborations, all drop onstage.’ with “Three O’Clock Blues,” I had to still have to prove I can play. and live tracks.

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Onstage at Madison Square Garden, April 2013

‘They wanted me to play like tools of the trade

B.B. King. They even wanted me to Buddy Guy has favored Fender Stratocasters since he began playing. On Rhythm & Blues, change my name to Buddy King.’ he uses a 1954 and 1989 model. “When I first went to England, Jeff Beck and Why? Why was 1991’s Damn Right, I’ve Got Eric Clapton laughed when they saw me Because there’s always someone who hasn’t the Blues your most successful album? play a Strat,” he says. “They said, ‘We didn’t heard of me. I didn’t sell a lot of records back They told me I could play any way I wanted, so think that was good for anything but country in the day. Jimi Hendrix and the British guys you heard more guitar. My previous albums and western.’” Guy also plays a Gibson but got their exposure long before me. People were OK, but they had it turned down and confesses, “I don’t know the model. I just didn’t start talking about me until after those said that blues should be slow, quiet stuff. The pick up a guitar. When I turn it on, I want guys were selling millions of records and other blues guys had invented that and they to hear what I want to hear.” Guy’s amps telling people, “I got this from Buddy Guy.” were doing well. Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy of choice are a Fender Bassman and a And everybody said, “Who the hell is that?” Williamson, Muddy Waters and Little Walter Buddy Guy signature model Chicago Blues were selling tons of records, so I couldn’t go Box—which is designed to mimic a Bassman. How has the blues evolved? to Chess and say, “I can beat that.” I probably “I grew up with the Fender stuff,” he says. There’s been a change, but not that much. could have but I didn’t know then. If I did, I “I’ve been hooked on them since I first heard Electronics have changed more than the would have made a hit record every time! Guitar Slim.” Effects don’t interest Guy much blues. You can hit a note on a guitar now but he says, “I have a wah-wah pedal and that was the same note Lightnin’ Hopkins Any thoughts of retirement? use some reverb. I like the old stuff. With hit, but you press a button and the guitar You can’t name me one musician who retires. these new things I wouldn’t even know almost plays by itself. We all drop onstage. which buttons to punch.”

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