Buddy Guy : "The Last Old Man of The Blues” | Don’s Tunes

 

Photo: Patrick Canigher

Buddy Guy: “I’m the last old man still walking and playing the blues,” he says. “That’s what we talked about with Muddy and Howlin’ Wolf before they died. They said, ‘Buddy, please keep the blues alive.’ And I’m tryin’.” As youngblood blues guitarist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram puts it, “As far as mainstream blues, he’s the last OG.”

One key to Guy’s survival is that he was never a blues purist. Dating back to his earliest 45s and his first album, 1967’s Left My Blues in San Francisco, he blended soul, rock power chords, and high-stepping R&B into blues, along with an unrestrained style of guitar playing and vocal blues wail that always threatened to go off the rails but never did. His recent string of albums are packed with cameos from across the musical spectrum (Mick Jagger, Keith Urban, and Kid Rock, among many) and sport a loud, crackling, radio-friendly sound; Ain’t Done With the Blues, which was just nominated for a Best Traditional Blues Album Grammy, pairs him with Ingram, Joe Walsh, and Peter Frampton. As Bruce Iglauer of the blues label Alligator says, “Buddy effectively rocked out the blues, while keeping the soul of the blues in the music. I don’t know that anybody else has done that. Maybe he feels like he’s the last knight in armor, and that part of his job is not repeating the tradition, but bringing the tradition into a more modern context.”

Guy’s survival can be attributed to his business savvy, but also to his lifestyle. He says he would turn to a “little whiskey” because he was shy and the alcohol helped calm his nerves before he’d go onstage. He still sips cognac from time to time, as he did at Legends. But he believes in moderation. Whether he’s in the studio or in other work situations, Guy often avoids food altogether. “My longevity is I don’t overdo nothin’,” he says. “I know how to quit eating when I’m full. If you eat too much, it’s going to do something to you. I was brought up like that: When you got enough, you got enough. Wait until tomorrow. You notice I took a couple of drinks last night. But I never been pulled over for drunk driving, and I never run over nobody, because I know when to stop.”

Source: David Browne / Rolling Stone

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