Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guyis an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues and has influenced guitarists including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, John Mayer and Stevie Ray Vaughan. In the 1960s, Guy played with Muddy Waters as a house guitarist at Chess Records and began a musical partnership with the harmonica player Junior Wells...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionGuitarist
Date of Birth30 July 1936
CityLettsworth, LA
CountryUnited States of America
I was denied a record contract for 15 years, so I'm not going to be too picky about what I do. I don't have the juice to say no too many times.
So here I am - a 75-year-old man sitting on a bar stool in a blues club, trying to figure out exactly how I got here. Any way you look at it, it's a helluva story.
Someone told me once that blues is like whiskey. They keep whiskey in the barrel for so many years, and then they talk about how well it's aged. But I don't think that goes for him. I think this young man has just stepped in there sayin', 'I'm gonna prove you all wrong.' I think he's like a watermelon, man. He's ripe.
Somebody called Muddy and told him he should come down and hear me play. I didn't even know he was out there in the audience. After the show, I was talking to some people when somebody came up and slapped me upside the head.
But I was denied a record contract for 15 years, so I'm not going to be too picky about what I do. I don't have the juice to say no too many times.
The jazz and blues clubs are like the jazz and blues musicians - they're disappearing.
Even the disc jockeys are saying, if I play your record, I made you. You got to play for me free.
I said, I'm going to stand up and somebody is going to pay attention to me.
Everyone thinks because you're from the south you know everyone down there, but it's not like that; I never knew nothing about no Mississippi.
Standing between these two guys you'd have to be me to know how I'm feelin'!
Blues musicians don't retire. They drop.
They just said, 'Roll the tape.' No rehearsal or nothing... Muddy [Waters] didn't come in and say 'I wanna rehearse.' He used to look at me and say 'Let's just play the blues. That's all you need to do.
I'm going through a divorce now. This is the second one, and like baseball, I'm not gonna get three strikes. I've been living by myself for five years and I'm very comfortable. I can play my guitar when I want to.
Once I was checking to hotel and a couple saw my ring with Blues on it. They said, 'You play blues. That music is so sad.' I gave them tickets to the show, and they came up afterwards and said, 'You didn't play one sad song.'