Buddy Guy

"Every time I sing the blues," Buddy Guy sings, "I just try to tell the truth." And there is truth here, oodles of it, in the musty, haunted quality of Guy's voice -- friendly one minute, fierce the next -- and the forked tongue of his guitar, which strikes out and spars with him, even when couched in pillowy, familiar blues. Rarely has a man merged so completely with his instrument, so that when he says, "Let me explain this," his guitar goes on to do the talking. Sure, Clapton and Susan Tedeschi and the nine-year-old Quinn Sullivan appear, but ultimately this is Guy's show.

Ever the showman but never the best album artist, blues-guitar innovator Buddy Guy has
nevertheless recorded more consistently since 1991's Damn Right, I Got the Blues. That's
not to say he hasn't turned out a few turkeys (remember 1993's Feels Like Rain?), but this
isn't one. From the dirty wah-wah riffs and stinging leads of "Best Damn Fool" to the raw
country blues of "Out in the Woods," Guy, at 72, shows no signs of fatigue. With a... More >