Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2008 > April > 20 > Entry
Review: Buddy Guy at Stubb’s
A Buddy Guy set isn’t so much a list of songs in the order in which they’re to be played as much as it is a crooked stroll through blues and rock ‘n’ roll history. And the guy’s been doing it that way for so long — he’s north of 70 but appears to be holding up remarkably — he’s virtually review-proof.
So it was Friday night at Stubb’s. If you came to hear the blues legend’s take on John Hiatt’s “Feels Like Rain” or Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally,” sorry. But if you came to hear what lots of folks in the know consider to be the greatest guitar player alive, it was a characteristic jaw-dropper of a night. Guy brought his showmanship, using a drum stick as a pick a couple of times and taking a long walk into the crowd, soloing all the while. But the grandstanding wouldn’t mean much without his crazed and expressive skills on the guitar. (Jimi Hendrix reportedly used to cancel his own gigs to go catch Buddy Guy, and in the 2004 documentary “Lightning in a Bottle” there’s a film clip of a very young Guy gigging with a worshipful-looking Hendrix at the front of the stage.)
Quiet one moment and shredding the next, Guy likes him some dynamic extremes, which might be something of a cliché but it simply works. So the meander: Here comes a little “Hoochie Coochie Man,” then “I Just Want to Make Love to You. (Guy backed Muddy Waters when Guy was a largely frustrated session man at Chess, where Leonard Chess famously called his style “(expletive) noise.”) Then came a little John Lee Hooker, a little Clapton, a little “Voodoo Chile” and a raucously received shout-out to Stevie Ray Vaughan, with whom Guy shared a stage on the night Vaughan died.
So yeah, he does what he does. In an era when “virtuoso” gets affixed to undeserving subjects such as John Mayer, Buddy Guy is the real deal and then some. He might have grown up in Louisiana, but those chops are from outer space.
Follow Austin Music Source on Facebook and Twitter.
Comments
When commenting, we ask that you keep things civil and abide by our Visitor Agreement. To report comment abuse, click here.
By Rachel Perry
April 20, 2008 11:58 PM | Link to this
Alright I was at the show and it was awesome…
I’ve got to know though—- when he was walking through the crowd he stopped, handed my 2 drinks to someone standing next to me, took my hand and played his guitar with it… did anyone get some footage of that that they’d be willing to send me??!?!? I saw tons of flashes when he was doing it, but since I was just coming back from getting another round at the bar, my friends weren’t there take photos. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but… I played Buddy Guy’s guitar w/ him and I want photos of it if they’re out there!