This must be why the last Buddy Guy show I went to I spent half the show listening to a 10 year old on guitar that Buddy brought out on stage. Interestingly enough, his big song was a tribute to, wait for it.............Buddy Guy.
The rest of the show was more about the theatrics as well and less about the music. Big disappointment. Never again.
Last Edited by Honkin On Bobo on Aug 03, 2015 10:57 AM
@ Honkin on Bobo. Your post really bothered me and as such, even though I don't know you, I feel compelled to respond herein. Respectfully:
Wow, imagine that. A blues legend brought out a prodigy of ten years of age so as to keep the blues alive. Sorry you didn't like the way you were entertained. You're a tough audience. Now at 16 years of age, Quinn Sullivan is still playing the blues (better than ever) because someone gave a damn & passed the torch to him. What would you do if Little Walter had given you the same chance? Do a tribute to Rice Miller? Come on, we need to perpetuate the music we love and I don't know any better way than by mentoring young folks so that they can carry on the tradition and keep this music at the forefront. If they then show respect for the gift they are given then God bless them for their good manners. I am damn near 65 years old and a fella half my age mentors me to learn to play the blues harp. I am extremely thankful to learn from a master of the craft so I may pay homage to the music. Oh and whatever I learn, I'll pass on to my grandchildren so they too can understand what the blues means to me and all of us. Hopefully, they'll carry the torch and keep the blues alive.
I haven't followed the link and read the article yet, but I did go see Buddy Guy a couple of years ago, and Didn't enjoy the show.
I'm with Honkin on this one, and agree with the criticism of the show. It was nice to see buddy, I like him, but the show was lame, he returned last year and I had no interest in going for a second time.
listening to Quin was unpleasant, though it is clear he surely can play guitar. Buddy's repeated insistance that we support Quin, I found annoying.
I hate to come off as so negative but that was my experience.
Michael
edited to remove typo
Last Edited by Sherwin on Aug 04, 2015 4:30 AM
Ok, I get the article. Listen to Muddy Waters and understand the roots of the blues.
I think its great Buddy brings up Quinn Sullivan and other kids , there are a ton of them out there. But to center the show around them, gosh, I didn't pay to see that.
There are a ton of these child prodigies around. Jake Kulak from CT is very good. And Kingfish from Mississippi is just off the charts. Want younger? Try Nolan Leite, he's like 11 from RI. And the list goes on and on and on and on. These wonder kids are great and then they turn 18 and they are just another axe hero.
The article is titled based off the lead in questions Buddy was asked. The title sounds much more ominous than the actual read - it is very generic towards the subject. The writer did a great job of coming up with something as click bait.
But the reality of it is is that blues music is more accessible to listeners, more widely played, and "suffering" the same fate as all other generes easily not labeled "pop".
Rock, country, jazz, etc. are all "dying" in the same way blues music is...as is live music in general. The world is over saturated with music. ---------- Mike My Website My Harmonica Effects Blog
The music obviously didn't start with Muddy Waters. Muddy himself thought it started with Son House and Robert Johnson. But it started for Buddy with Muddy's music, though, and so, in an entirely familiar way, Buddy makes it personal and elegiac: it's about Muddy's death and his request to Buddy; it's about Buddy's own mortality; it's about his legacy. Blues players tend to personalize stuff.
I'm still amazed at the bait-and-switch propagated by Buddy--acting as though if he doesn't teach a young white boy how to play the blues, the blues will die. That's truly silly. Joe Louis Walker, Keb' Mo', Kim Wilson, Bill Sims, Jr., and of course a whole lotta women are out there, playing, singing, and teaching; passing it along.
The music happens right now to be in one of its contracting periods. Bear market, not bull market. It was a bull market in the late 60s; a bear market in 1975; a bull market in 1983; a huge bull market in the early 1990s. The early 1990s were huge. But back then, and at various other moments in the past 50 years, including the program for the 1970 Ann Arbor Blues Festival, some voices have insisted that "the blues are dying." Usually they mean that a particular set or grouping of older black bluesmen are dying. (Nobody, black or white, EVER bemoans that the real blues are dying when older black blues women die. Why do you suppose that is? I think it's because men, and male blues historians, are sexist and ill-informed.)
I'm tired of this tired old narrative line. The blues aren't dying. Old black bluesmen are dying, and that bothers white blues fans--and a few older black bluesmen like Buddy. I think we need to let go of the cult of death. Read Living Blues magazine. Every month they profile a range of African American blues artists, younger and older, celebrated and not so well known. Jarekus Singleton is alive and well, last time I looked. The blues isn't dying. Buddy Guy is just getting old.
Buddy Guy has under-performed and disappointed audiences regularly through the years, audiences who´d expect something more sincere musically than "theatrics" as Honkin says. That´s a terribly boring side of him as an artist. I will never go to a Buddy Guy concert again, even if it is free; but I can still listen to some of his records.
According to statistics 3% of people in the U.S. listen to blues. I'm guessing higher in Europe. What where those numbers ten or twenty years ago. I'm guessing we saw a big decline after SRV's death, but IMO its been revived with the help from a lot of great players.
I tell friends go see the Mofo Party Band live, then tell me you don't like the blues.
The four times I seen Buddy live in the previous decade he brought a young guitar slinger with him. I'm thinking it's his way of giving these young guns exposure and real life experience.
BB king did it with Joe Bonamassa when he was 12. Would Joe be where he is now without BB? If your a die hard traditional blues fan, you either love or hate Buddy's style. He stepped out of traditional blues allong time ago, and personally I enjoy his music more when he goes old school. I would still go see him in a heartbeat.
Buddy is a blues hero in my book and could never disapoint me and the fact that he's still going strong at his age is amazing!
As far as I know Buddy had nothing to do with teaching Quinn to play blues, but Quinn has definitely learned a lot from Buddy.
Last Edited by Harpaholic on Aug 05, 2015 9:27 AM
i drank the kool-aid when i went to see him last year. He didn't play many songs; i think he didn't really finish any. he didn't have any child prodigy with him, though he did give his guitarist feature spot for 1 song. it was entertaining...i don't get to many such gigs...Cotton and Musselwhite were on the same bill that night. i feel much the same about Buddy's book...its a bit slick and best-sellerish for my liking but i still enjoyed it despite knowing it was designed to push my buttons rather than just tell a story...yeas, i guess Buddy Guy is a product right now but i'm still rather impressed ...and im easily impressed...look at this capcha code : 6cpunk
I first heard Buddy Guy probably in the 80's or 90's and paid attention to him on a friend's recommendation. What I finally arrived at is, he's a prolific guitarist, but as for playing real deal down in it blues, I just don't really believe him. He's loud, brash, and when I saw him in the late 90's he never finished a song in his entire set. Some of his best work imho was Alone and Acoustic with Junior. But then I've never been fond of overplaying any instrument.
I agree with Adam on this, as long as we- I mean ANYone who has the passion and determination to keep something alive and breathing- is around, blues as a genre will never die. Why? It's about the spirit and soul of men. It's about communicating what really drives us as humans: our pain and our pain transmuted into joy in a song.
We all- those who care- have a responsibility to do our small parts to bring the next gen into the music in some way. When I can I hand off a harp or show a kid something about how to play. Jo and I love street playing because it's a wide open venue where people of all ages are exposed to the music and some respond to it.
I appreciate that Buddy is giving props to who he sees as the future. There is good in every effort to move forward. ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
I've seen Buddy Guy perform several times, he's still great at almost 80 years of age. Bedford Texas has a Blues and Barbeque Fest over the Labor Day weekend where he's been the headliner several times. It's outside in the heat, and he doesn't seem to mind. bedfordbluesfest.com
I got the blues in the mid 80's and there's always been a dyin' lament about it! But hey that's the blues and it's still here!
Buddy Guy in the day was just about to my ears one of the greatest blues singer and could still play and sing well when the occasion took him through the years but he has more than earned his dues and can say what he wants I think.
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"Those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do"
Last Edited by marine1896 on Aug 10, 2015 11:57 AM
