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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
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
crazy4blues
243 posts
 
Interesting footnote: The recording engineers rented the vintage microphones from the company that recorded the "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack. This from an interview with Buddy in Blues Revue. Makes me want to check out sonic similarities b/n the two recordings . . .
herve1
84 posts
 
To me, "Blues Singer" is Buddy's best album in years, and the sonics are excellent.
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