Some Blues You Just have to Hear Series –Buddy Guy

Buddy Guy and B.B. King were both superstars of all times in blues music being the inspiration for other artist such as Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

In my previous blog I talked about BB King, today I want to share with you George Buddy Guy. Buddy was another child born to a sharecropper back in 1936 in Louisiana, back when segregation was still in full swing. Buddy’s parents tried to keep as much of the reality of the segregation from Buddy and his other four siblings while growing up and always encouraged them to be the best they could be, regardless of their skin color. He used examples throughout Buddy’s life such as Jackie Robinson, and Joe Louis whom both made names for themselves regardless of their skin.

In his late teens, Buddy started working as a custodian at the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Buddy played the guitar when time allowed in blues bands. (Buddy Guy had a serious case of stage freight when he first started making public appearances. It took him quite sometime to conquer this fear and even throughout his whole career, Buddy would get an occasional twinge. Never before out of the state of Louisiana, Buddy decided to move to Chicago after a friend of his returned from a trip there and told him how he knew he would fare well there playing the guitar in the evening and working during the day. Buddy was more interested in working in Chicago rather then playing. It was only secondary to the thought of doubled income he could make working in Chicago as a custodian. The added benefit to Buddy in regards to his move was to see some of the blues greats play. Little did he know it wouldn’t be long when he would be playing right along side of some of the blues greats such as Muddy Waters and Otis Rush.

Guy’s success didn’t take right off, not at least in the style he would have rather played in. Guy’s did make some records under Chess label; however, it was not the style of music he necessarily wanted to record. It wasn’t until the later years of his career and a couple record label later that Guy was able to play how he always wanted to, and what he is known for today, a showman, provocative guitarist and commanding vocalist with just the right touch of the wild side that even make hard core rockers admire him.

Even after opening a blues club in Chicago back in 89, the Buddy Guy’s Legends, a very popular nightclub, Guy still manages to perform at the age of 73, with the same commanding presentation he has always had. Stayed tuned for more great blues artists you must hear. Until then, some Buddy Guy for your listening pleasure..

Some Blues You Just Have to Hear Series - BB King

Riley B. King, otherwise known as B.B. King to the blues world was one of the strongest influences that helped keep the roots of the Mississippi Delta Blue alive. B.B. King was born in 1925 in Indianola Mississippi. Riley grew up a hard life. His parent’s, tenant farmers, separated when riley was very young. His mom did the best she could to bring Riley up. They attended church where Riley got his first taste of the gospel choir. This was the root beginnings of Riley’s love for the blues music and guitar. After his mothers early demise, Riley at the age of 9 pretty much raised himself. His aunt played a partial role when she could in trying to keep Riley on the straight and narrow. Her love of blues and jazz kept Riley coming back to her throughout his young years to listen to the collection of records she had. At the age of 12, Riley began to play the guitar and started performing on street corners as an early teen to make some money to survive.

Some of Riley’s inspiration he received to play the blues was from artist such as Lonnie Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson, T-Bone Walker, and Bukka White. Bukka White was Riley’s cousin and played a huge role in Riley’s decision to try to take his act on the road. After training under his cousin White, at the age of 21, Riley hitchhiked to Memphis Tennessee and within three years, developed a nice gig playing in clubs and even having some records made. It was also in Memphis that Riley began DJ’ing on the radio. His DJ’ing is where he earned his nickname, B.B. King. He began announcing himself on the radio station as Beale Street Blues Boy, which was later shortened to Blues Boy then to B.B.

B.B. King continued to make a huge name for himself in the Blue’s Industry as well as the music world as a whole. He and “Lucille”, a name he began giving all of his guitars early on in his music career, literally came from what most would consider dirt poor, and rose to the cream of the crop. (Lucille was a woman in BB Kings early career where an incident ensued over a fight for Lucille resulting in a fire where BB almost lost his guitar to the fire over this woman.)

By 1952, B.B. made it to the top of the Billboard Charts for rhythm and blues with his song “Three O’clock Blues”. From then on it was just one hit after another, for six decades and 50 albums later. B.B. is known for his strong guitar tone and his smoky deep vocals in his smooth mix of the traditional blues with a dash of country guitar tone. On the more risky side of B.B. Riley King, it has been reported that he was quite the ladies man in his career singing the blues. B.B. was married twice, both times ending in divorce due to his demanding career, however it has also been said that B.B. fathered 15 children by different women as well as in just one single year, had 341 one-night-stands! I can see where that could make for quite a bit of material for some blues music.