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New Buddy Guy - "Blues Singer"

Anyone else heard this? "Blues Singer", named in tribute to Muddy Water's "Folk Singer" which Buddy played on. This is a fantastic cd. The recording is excellent. I turned it up to a somewhat loud(so says my wife) level, and from the first moment of the first song, "Hard Time Killing Floor", it sounded as if Buddy were in my living room. This album is acoustic with five songs featuring only Buddy on guitar/vocals and Jimbo Mathus on guitar. The second song is John Lee Hooker's "Crawlin' Kingsnake". It has Eric Clapton and BB King as guests. That's right - BB King acoustic. Highly reccomended!
clingman71
hdm
1,056 posts
 
Crazy: I'm all for that; you have to respect a bluesman like Buddy who has been plying his trade for more than 40 years and who has also been a strong promoter of the blues through his ownership of clubs. And there is no denying his influence on the current generation of guitarists in Chicago as a "bridge" from the early post war sounds of Muddy, etc. to the current era, as well as his influence on rock guitarists.
redkiwi
1,092 posts
 
I have been a Buddy Guy fan a long time and agree with HDM that there was much great work with Junior Wells, and a lot of average stuff since. But I really really like Blues Singer. If it has to rock out for your juices to flow, then you will not like this album, for sure. And if I read between the lines then that appears to be the main reason for the negative words above. But I like it and cannot relate to the "too much reverb" and "has to fake singing" comments at all with this one.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,150 posts
 
Buddy's peak work is in the past, but at 67 years of age he's still an exciting artist. Personally, I think his best work was the band he had with Junior Wells and his brother Phil Guy in the early 70s. As far as his acoustic work goes, I recommend you track down an album on Blue Thumb records "Buddy & the Juniors". Its Guy on guitar with Junoir Mance (piano) and Junoir Wells (harmonica). It's a definite treat.
redkiwi
1,092 posts
 
I have that Cd, and you are right. No argument, his work with Junior Wells was the best. For me, what was great on that work was Buddy's guitar, and Junior's singing. Buddy's singing has been more erratic, sometimes lacking soul, sometimes not. Blues Singer is a bit odd in that Buddy sings the blues very gently. There is a place for that and the singing has soul this time. And this time the lightning licks are absent and rightly so with this form of material. But the timing and bending of the notes is still a master at play.
snook2's avatar
snook2
620 posts
 
I too found this a disappointment but he is still one of the best and will continue listening to his early works
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