Buddy Guy: Ain't Done with the Blues (digital outlets)

And the blues ain't done with Buddy Guy either, despite him quite rightly claiming, at 89, Been There Done That: “Picked a lot of cotton, before I played guitar . . . been around this world, my home is on the road”.

And it's true. Guy was the son of sharecroppers in Louisiana and he played diddley-bo before he got his first acoustic guitar: “Played a lotta juke joints and every concert hall . . . kings, queens and presidents, I've seen them come and go . . .”

Been there and done that, indeed.

It was in Chicago that he made his name and reputation as a ferocious, hard blues guitarist. And this this generous 18 song collection -- with guests (Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Joe Walsh, Joe Bonamassa, Peter Frampton) – is a journey through the life of this guitarist who influenced seminal rock musicians (Jimi, Clapton, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck.)

Opening with a warm-up riff on John Lee Hooker's Boogie Chillun (“that's the first thing I ever learned how to play, man”) these songs read like a ledger of his life with references to B.B. King, Jimmy Reed and Lightnin' Hopkins among others.

He covers J.B. Lenoir's Talk to Your Daughter and Sam Cooke soul (Send Me Some Loving), mentions Congo Square and racial injustices encountered (the moving I Don't Forget) . . .

With Chuck Leavell (Allman Brothers, Rolling Stones) on keyboards, Guy closes off blues subsets: tough urban styles, chooglin' rockabilly boogie (I Got Sumpin' For You), barroom blues (Blues Chase the Blues Away), a gutsy bayou style (Swamp Poker) and rockin' gospel on Jesus Loves a Sinner with the Blind Boys of Alabama.

If this is farewell – although he sounds in good health – we lose one of the last connections between the cotton fields and the Grammy stage from someone who has played with every significant blues and rock artist.

It was 24 years ago we interviewed him and the article was headed One of the Last Men Standing.

Still is. 

The legend who has been there and done that. More than once.

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You can hear this album at Spotify here