I’ve never seen anything like this. Many players might journey to the front of the crowd but outside the arena/auditorium? Damn!
This is a name everyone knows, even if not everyone has heard his music. A great American guitarist, a real embodiment of Chicago blues, whose fame has long gone beyond the city, state or country. One of those giants who are mentioned next to Muddy Waters, B.B. Kinga, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Howlin ‘Wolf, Big Joe Turner …
One can be almost certain – if it were not for Buddy Guy, the last living genius of the first generation of electric blues, we would never know the size of Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards or Stevie Ray Vaughan. And even if we met, they would play differently. “He’s the best living guitarist,” Clapton once said.
Guy’s unusual style of playing was certainly influenced by the fact that he was self-taught. One hundred percent. So everything he learned, he learned himself. Of course, he listened a lot, and he does it today.
