Music Spotlight - Buddy Guy & Junior Wells

My Background with Buddy Guy

I first got to see Buddy Guy at the Festival International in 1990, in Lafayette Louisiana (it's a fantastic festival and is well worth attending.) I was 19 and was still just beginning to really learn about Blues music, and some of my older and more experienced friends were letting me know what acts not to miss. Buddy Guy was playing and I was told "Do NOT miss this one!" I replied that I had never heard of him and was told that Buddy was a huge influence on Jimi Hendrix, so at that point I knew that I had to see this guy play, as I was listening to a ton of Hendrix at the time (still do, really.)

Even though it was many years ago, I can remember being impressed with his intensity right out of the gate. He came on stage on fire and kept up the pace the whole show. He did all sorts of insane stuff like playing behind his head and behind his back, and the crazy part wasn't so much that he could do it, but that he sounded great playing like that. Buddy Guy's guitar skills are just on some completely other level.

I got a chance to see him again a few days ago, at Sony Hall in midtown Manhattan, and despite being almost 30 years older, he still just tore up the stage. I would suggest seeing him soon, as he is 82 years old!

Buddy Guy & Junior Wells - Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues

Once I knew he existed, I went looking for his music, and by luck I found this record from 1972 right away. Buying it was an easy choice; it was used so it wasn't very expensive (although it was on the high end for a used record at the time) however the cover made a huge impression on me. Buddy and Junior are two of the sharpest dressed guys I have ever seen on that cover, which you can see in the YouTube clips below.

This album is exceptional in a few ways other than the bad ass cover as well. For one thing, it features Dr. John on piano, and Eric Clapton on rhythm guitar (which is where he belongs on a Buddy Guy record) as well as a long list of other well known band members and studio musicians of the day (more details below.)

While I have the vinyl, I recently poked around to see what was available and there are a lot of releases including a 2-CD version from 2014 with a bunch of studio outtakes from the sessions for the record. It's also available on Amazon music and the usual streaming sources. Luckily for me, there are good versions of the songs on YouTube, so it's easy for me to embed a few of my favorites here.

The first track on the album is "Man of Many Words", and it sets the pace for the record, and both Clapton and Dr. John do a great job of doing their low key rhythm parts and supporting Buddy and Junior. This song also features the bass & drums team from Derek & the Dominoes, with bassist Carl Radle laying down a blues bassline with just a touch of funk, and drummer Jim Gordon with a solid but not stiff foundation. While doing research for this post, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Gordon was also the drummer on the fantastic album, Welcome to the Canteen by Traffic. Also through the whole album, the tenor sax work of veteran player A.C. Reed shines.

Buddy's guitar tone is just nasty and his solo is just blazing fast, but without getting sloppy or sacrificing any of that gritty tone. Junior's singing and harmonica are on point and his confidence and attitude come right out of the record clear as day. It's a bit reminiscent of Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle" but I think it stands on its own as a song.

Another standout for me is, "A Poor Man's Plea" with a classic Chicago blues shuffle and solid performances from both Buddy and Junior, this one also features Clapton on rhythm guitar, but without Dr. John and with a different bass/drums team of Leroy "Slam" Stuart and Roosevelt "Snake" Shaw, who could both use blog posts about them in the future. It would be hard to find a more "legit" rhythm section for a blues band, so I will leave it at that and let you listen and judge for yourself.

I could keep posting all of the tracks as the whole thing is worth listening to, however I won't and will only post one more, one of their best known ones, "Messin' With the Kid." This one has Clapton, and Dr. John, but this time paired with "Slam" Stuart and "Snake" Shaw holding down the bass and drums.

Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1974

While not actually part of the album being spotlit here, I came across this live footage from only two years later, and just had to include it in this post, for one because it's video footage and you can actually see how they performed, but also because this song features another well known rock figure happily playing as a sideman for one of his idols; Bill Wyman from the Rolling Stones on bass. The fact that all these rock musicians were happy to get to play with him really shows how important Buddy Guy is and what a huge influence he has played on other musicians.

Oh and remember that I said that Junior and Buddy were sharp dressers? They took it up a notch for this festival in '74

So if you haven't figured it out yet, you need to go see Buddy Guy. If you've never seen him, go. If you have seen him go again! dude is 82 and still touring!