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The Rock'n'Roll Connections of
Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy is a bluesman--not from Mississippi--but from
Louisiana, and he sho' 'nuff can work some bayou hoodoo with his
axe! His career had a rocky start in which he overcame serious
bouts with stage fright and self-doubt to become an amazing,
fiery, high-energy showman. He is one of the most skilled and
exciting guitarists of all time, and when it comes to soloing he's
way ahead of the pack, untouchable and unreachable, probably
somewhere out in the fourth dimension. Despite his great
instrumental skills, early in his career Guy lacked confidence in
his guitar-playing ability, so he developed an incredible stage
act to set himself apart from other guitarists. He has mastered a
crowd-pleasing bag of tricks including playing his guitar with
whatever is handy--a drumstick, a microphone stand, or even a
handkerchief! A favorite piece of theatrics that Buddy has
employed for years is to plug into a 150+ foot amplifier cord and
jump into the crowd, circulating through it while playing white-hot
guitar literally in yer face. So what do we got?...A fantastic
guitarist, an incredible showman, and for the icing on the cake--guess
what???--he's a great singer too. Buddy does it all and da man
does it with just enough cool to make absolute zero feel like a
burnin' hell!
Buddy Guy isn't just a loud and flashy performer; he can also
turn down the volume and play with subtlety and finesse. He can
deliver tortured, gospel-tinged vocals on slow-burnin' blues and play just the
right notes to make you feel what it's all about. And, with the blues, feeling
it is the prescription for healing it, so Buddy is like a musical MD, a skilled practitioner operating with
specialties in the fields of heart fixin', soul stirrin' and mind
blowin'.
Some of rock's greatest guitarists have been influenced by
Buddy Guy. First up, there's a guy named Jimi Hendrix who
picked up a thing or two about showmanship from the master.
Hendrix also closely studied Guy's music, and once even followied him
through a series of performances in New York with a tape recorder
to get it all down. Buddy Guy has also been a major influence on
rockers such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Stevie
Ray Vaughan, to name just a few.
In the 1990's, Buddy made two albums, Damn Right I've Got
the Blues and Feels Like Rain, in which he
collaborated with a bunch of big stars including Clapton, Beck,
and Bonnie Raitt. These albums helped him to get some major cross-over
action from the rock audience, but blues purists have complained
that the music is too rock-oriented and that he has sold out.
Yeah, he's making a lot of dough now, but he also has sure enough
made blues fans out of a mess of people. The purists might have a
valid point to make, but too much of that complaining starts to
smell like stinky, backward, rear-end jive. And Buddy Guy ain't
just hep to that jive--he's got his boots on, they're laced high,
and he knows where to stomp!
For more of Buddy Guy's connections to rock and roll, read on
below and damn right you'll get the blues too!
More of Buddy Guy's Rock Connections:
Jeff Beck: Jeff Beck's great album Truth
includes a cover of Buddy Guy's "Let Me Love You Baby"
retitled as "Let Me Love You". And Guy's Damn Right
I've Got the Blues album includes the song "Mustang
Sally" on which Beck plays guitar. Eric Clapton also
laid down a guitar track for the song, but it was not used on the
record.
Eric Clapton: In an article in Musician magazine,
Eric Clapton described Buddy Guy as "by far and without a
doubt the best guitar player alive". These two great
guitarists have had a long friendship which has resulted in them
working together on a whole passel of projects. In the early
seventies they got together with Junior Wells to record Buddy
Guy and Junior Wells Play the Blues. Clapton produced the
album and also contributed his guitar to the project. And in 1990
and 1991 Buddy joined Eric in concert for a string of "blues
nights" at London's Royal Albert Hall. The music they played
during these shows was positively electrifying and some of it is
included on Clapton's 24 Nights album. Also in 1991, they
appeared on each other's studio albums; Guy played on Clapton's
soundtrack album Rush, and Clapton contributed to Guy's Damn
Right I've Got the Blues.
Fleetwood Mac: Renditions of Guy's "Don't Know
Which Way To Go" are on various live albums by Fleetwood Mac
including the excellent London Live '68.
John Fogerty: Buddy Guy's Feels Like Rain album
includes a rendition of John Fogerty's "Change In the
Weather". The song was originally recorded by Fogerty for
his album Eye of the Zombie.
J. Geils Band: The album Buddy Guy and Junior Wells
Play the Blues includes a guest appearance by the rock group
The J.Geils Band. Peter Wolf, J. Geils, Magic Dick and other
members of this group were big fans of blues, rhythm 'n' blues,
and doo-wop music. Years after the band broke up, J.Geils and
Magic Dick formed a great little blues group called Bluestime.
John Hiatt: Buddy Guy has recorded two of singer-songwriter/country-rocker
John Hiatt's songs. Guy's Damn Right I've Got the Blues
has got a cover of Hiatt's "Where Is the Next One Coming
From" and the title cut of Feels Like Rain is a Hiatt-penned
tune.
Steve Miller: Miller played rhythm guitar in Guy's band
during the mid-sixties.
Rolling Stones: The Stones took along Buddy Guy as a
supporting act on their 1970 concert tour. A few years later, in
1974, the Stones' bassist Bill Wyman played with Buddy and Junior
Wells at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Their performance was
recorded and released as the long player Drinkin' TNT 'n'
Smokin' Dynamite.
Santana: Buddy Guy and his long-time partner, harp
player Junior Wells, make guest appearances on Santana's Freedom
album.
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Stevie was a big fan and friend of
Buddy Guy. He recorded Guy's "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
for his very first album, Texas Flood, and his In Step
album includes a cover of Guy's classic "Let Me Love You
Baby". Just before Stevie died in a 1990 helicopter crash,
he was onstage for his last performance jamming with Buddy. Guy
gave tribute to his lost friend on his Damn Right I've Got the
Blues album with an instrumental entitled "Remembering
Stevie". Guy also honored Stevie by performing "Long
Way From Home" on the long-player A Tribute to Stevie Ray
Vaughan. This is a great live album honoring the memory of
Stevie which includes performances by his brother Jimmie
Vaughan (of the Fabulous Thunderbirds), Bonnie
Raitt, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Art Neville, Robert Cray, and Dr.
John.
ZZ Top: Buddy Guy recorded a version of ZZ Top's "I
Need You Tonight" for his album Heavy Love. ZZ Top's
original recording of the song is on Eliminator.
With A Little Help From
His Friends
Buddy Guy's albums from the '90s include guest appearances by
a whole string of star performers from rock and other types of
music. Musicians helping out on 1991's Damn Right I've Got the
Blues include Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Mark
Knopfler of Dire Straits. From 1993, Feels Like Rain
has guest shots by Bonnie Raitt, Travis Tritt, Paul Rodgers
(formerly of Bad Company and Free), and the great blues-rocker John
Mayall. And in 1996, Guy released Live: The Real Deal,
a terrific live album which he recorded with G. E. Smith and
the Saturday Night Live Band backing him up. Finally, 1998's Heavy
Love album includes some help from the young blues-rock
sensation Johnny Lang.
Don't Know Which Way To Go
Eric Clapton's soundtrack to the movie Rush
includes a guest appearance by Buddy Guy on the blues classic
"Don't Know Which Way To Go". An interesting thing
about this song is that the prolific blues songwriter Willie
Dixon has long been credited as its composer, but it may
actually have been written by Buddy Guy himself. Guy claims that
he was rooked out of the songwriting credit for this and other tunes, and it's
not a far-fetched claim considering the history of the music industry's abuses
related to songwriting royalties.
Regardless of who wrote "Don't Know Which Way To Go",
Buddy Guy is the man who made it famous. Unfortunately, the Rush
soundtrack may be the only currently in-print source for hearing
him perform the song.
One out-of-print source is the great Folk Festival of the
Blues. This album is a recording of a live radio broadcast in
1963 of various blues artists, and is highlighted by some awesome
vocal performances delivered by Muddy Waters backed up by
a truckload of Buddy Guy's wild, burn-down-the-house guitar.
Buddy takes the lead on "Don't Know Which Way to Go"--he
has claimed to have made the song up on-the-spot at a performance
and it's possible that that performance is what has been captured on this
record. This classic album is currently out-of-print, but if you ever get the
chance to grab on to a copy...man don't
pass it up! Folk Festival of the Blues has also been
issued under the title Blues From Big Bill's Copacabana
which is also out-of-print. Who knows, it may someday be issued
again under a different title, so here's a listing of the tracks
and performers to help you ID it:
1. Wee, Wee Baby - Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy
2. Sitting and Thinking - Muddy Waters
3. *Worried Blues - Buddy Guy
4. *Bring It On Home - Sonny Boy Williamson
5. Sugar Mama - Howlin' Wolf
6. Clouds in My Heart - Muddy Waters
7. May I Have a Talk With You? - Howlin' Wolf
8. Got My Mojo Working - Muddy Waters
9. Don't Know Which Way To Go - Buddy Guy
10. She's 19 Years Old - Muddy Waters
*Note that "Worried Blues" and "Bring It On
Home" don't belong on the record because they were not
actually part of that grand night's proceedings. Hopefully, when
a record company is wise enough to reissue this album it will
also be wise enough to leave out these filler tracks.
The AKA Blues Konnection
Feels Like Ramblin' .... to the Musician's Index
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