Art imitates life in Buddy Guy's new songs

Art imitates life in Buddy Guy's new songs
October 19, 2010
Jay Lustig
nj.com

In his new song “Thank Me Someday,” Buddy Guy looks back to his teenage years, when he was growing up in rural Louisiana and teaching himself to play guitar. His sister, like sisters everywhere, yelled at him to keep the racket down.

“They had to run me out of the house, and I can understand it,” said Guy, 74, on Thursday, in a phone interview from his longtime hometown of Chicago. “But when I finally learned how to play, they didn’t run me out of the house. They said, ‘Come on in here, now, because it’s good enough to listen to.’ ”

Despite his humble beginnings, Guy — who has shows coming up in Red Bank, Trenton and Morristown — is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest blues guitarists ever.

A flamboyant showman whose musical inventiveness and raw power have inspired comparisons to Jimi Hendrix, he was influencing a new wave of blues-rock musicians while Hendrix himself was still toiling in near anonymity. Eric Clapton, who first saw Guy perform in 1965, said, upon inducting Guy into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 40 years later: “He was for me what Elvis was probably like for other people. My course was set, and he was my pilot.”
Buddy Guy


Where and when: Count Basie Theatre, 99 Monmouth St., Red Bank, Friday (with Jimmie Vaughan opening); Patriots Theater at War Memorial, Memorial Drive, Trenton, Saturday (with Vaughan and Shemekia Copeland); Community Theatre at Mayo Center for the Performing Arts, 100 South St., Morristown, Oct. 28 (with Moreland & Arbuckle). All shows at 8 p.m..


How much: $19.50-$55 for Red Bank; call (732) 842-9000 or visit countbasietheatre.org. $29-$79 for Trenton; call (609) 984-8400 or visit thewarmemorial.com. $42-$77 for Morristown; call (973) 539-8008 or visit mayoarts.org.

“Thank Me Someday” is one of several songs from Guy’s “Living Proof” album (due to be released on Oct. 26) with autobiographical themes. He addresses his age in the opener, “74 Years Young,” singing “I’m 74 years young/There ain’t nothin’ I haven’t done . . . I still know how to have my fun” and unleashing a torrential guitar solo. “Stay Around a Little Longer” is a warm, reflective duet with old friend B.B. King.

“B.B. perfected that thing that we all play,” said Guy. “All the rock guitar players, every one I know — and I just about know ’em all — I say to them, ‘Man, we all should play a guitar with two B’s on it, because he perfected that so well.’ ”

These songs, and others on the album, grew out of conversations Guy had with producer Tom Hambridge. Guy co-wrote five them; Hambridge completed the rest on his own, or with other co-writers. It’s the same method they used, with winning results, on Guy’s 2008 album, the Grammy-nominated “Skin Deep.”

Exploring his past in a different way, Guy is working on an autobiography with veteran music writer David Ritz (“Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye,” “Rage to Survive: The Etta James Story”). It should be a fascinating one, offering an insider’s view of the vibrant Chicago blues scene of the ’50s and ’60s, and including stories about everyone from blues icons such as Muddy Waters and Guy’s longtime musical partner, the late Junior Wells, to rock giants like Clapton and the Rolling Stones.

Looking back on his life is one thing. Guy isn’t all that comfortable looking back on his music, though. He mentioned that since he was gearing up to make some promotional appearances on behalf of the new album, he had to force himself to listen to some of its tracks again.

He doesn’t often listen to his own songs.

“I learned how to play by ear, and I’m not learning anything if I’m listening to Buddy Guy: I already know that,” he said. “I listen to a lot of spiritual music, a lot of jazz, and a lot of the other blues cats, so hopefully I can learn something from them.

“I listen to Miles Davis, and George Benson, and Kenny G. I listen to Bill Withers and all that kind of stuff: I’m trying to pick up something and learn something, and bring it back to you in a blues wa