INTERVIEW OCTOBER 1997 by Jason Blankenship (Buddy Guy's Legends)

From his hotel room in Nashville, Buddy Guy took some time out of his busy recording schedule to talk about the sessions for his upcoming new release. He also gives us some insight into what playing the Blues means to him and what his hopes are for the future of the music.

You're in the midst of recording your new material as we speak. How is it going so far?
It's been wonderful. This is a great bunch of people that I'm working with down here. I didn't know that it could be so easy. I've had good times doing other recordings but these guys are just tremendous. It's a big help to have people like this to work with when you're recording. A lot of people think that if it's your name on the album that you've pretty much done all the important work. You would be surprised how much it means to get good help and support from your sidemen in the studio. They do a lot of correcting of me, keeping me going in the right direction. I'm very proud of the work they've done.

It sounds like you have assembled quite a nice studio band with Reese Wynans (Double Trouble) on Keyboards, Richie Hayward (Little Feat) on drums and David Smith (Luther Allison) on bass. Did you first meet Reese while he was working with Stevie?
Yeah. Reese and I got to be pretty close friends when he was working around there with Stevie. I used to go into Austin a lot and we would hang together and we've definitely jammed a lot together.

Richie Hayward also played on Damn Right I've Got The Blues.
Right. Actually, he did Damn Right and Feels Like Rain. He's got what Willie Dixon used to call the "punch line." Every time I'm with B.B. King he always tells the drummer, "Man, you gotta give me that ax choppin' drum." Richie helps keep that bluesy feelin' in a bluesy person, I guess. I like that kind of thing. I grew up with it, I started with it, and I don't want to leave it. When you're branded as a blues player, if you get too far away from it, the one's who have followed you through the dark days kind of turn their backs on you. So I'm trying to stay close to that and at the same time come up with something that is good enough to attract some younger people. I don't want people to think that I'm at a stand still musically. I'm just trying to play my music and have it relate to today's people.

I was going to ask you if you enjoy working in the studio. From what you've said so far it sounds like you do.
You never get too old to learn. Some of my best days came in my younger days. I would always kind of lay back. When I'm working with great musicians I tend to have trouble relaxing and cutting loose. The older I get the more experience I have and it's a little easier for me. Now these guys are saying, "This is your session, man. Let's go do it." Whenever you're doing something like this you need that kind of support. I'm still learning, so to have people around me like I have now is a great lift.

Did you get a chance to write any new songs for this album?
I came down to Nashville with four of them. I don't know if we are going to be able to fit all of them on the record. I did two with lyrics and a couple of instrumentals.

Is songwriting something that you feel pretty comfortable with?
I don't know, really. I wrote "Damn Right I've Got The Blues" which people really seem to like. I don't think I've ever written one where people think, "Wow! Buddy Guy is a great songwriter." I just try to write something that might strike a chord in someone and just say some interesting things. That's what my songwriting is all about. I don't brag to be a great songwriter, or anything else for that matter. I'm just out here doing what I do and trying to create my kind of music and hope that people will enjoy it.

I hear that you're doing a version of "Standing On Shaky Ground" that might be included on the new CD. That has always been one of my favorite songs.
Yeah. That's a good song, man. These guys that I'm playing with have made it even better for me. When I'm playing with good musicians like this they really bring out the best in me.

I've heard the versions by Etta James and Delbert McClinton. Do you have any idea who originally recorded that song?
I really can't answer that. I think that I remember hearing it first by The Temptations.

When I spoke to you before you left you said that you were taking along your vintage '57 Strat to record with. I understand that there is a pretty interesting story behind how you came across that guitar.
(Laughs) We were down in Florida, and of course I had my polka dot Strats with me. This guy walks in and he asks me to autograph this '57 that he has. As soon as I looked at it I thought, "Man, that is exactly like the guitar that got stolen from me back in 1978 that I had started out with." Those things are hard to come by. So I asked the guy if he would let me have it and he said that he would let me have his wife before he would let me have that guitar. (Laughs) I invited him in the bus and I had a bottle of XO Cognac so I offered him a couple of shots. After we had drank about half the bottle between us he looks at me and says, "What did you say you would do to get this guitar?" I said, "I'll trade you my red polka dot guitar for it." He took another drink and said, "You know you're the only person in the world that I would let have it." So I got the guitar and somehow got the autograph off of it and a month or so later I received a bottle of XO in the mail and he included a note calling me his "guitar father." That was pretty nice.

I guess a bottle of XO can come in handy.
It comes in handy even for me at this late day and age. You know, Jason, a lot of people look at me and think that it must be easy to get up and play by this time. I still have a lot of stage fright, man. Each and every time I get up on stage or go into the studio I have that fear that somebody is going to criticize me. I've been like that all my life. I always think somebody is going to think, "Shit. I thought he was better than what he's showing me." I worry about that kind of stuff maybe a little bit too much, I think. I don't know if that makes me better or worse, but that's a hang up that I've got. I still fight stage fright quite a bit. Once I get started it goes away and that's where the Cognac helps me a little bit. I was taught that by Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf and all those guys who taught me damn near everything I know.

You don't think the Strat is the actual one that got stolen from you?
No. It's not the exact same guitar. It's a '57 Strat which was the same kind that got stolen from me and they are very hard to come by now. All of those guitars have been collected by the Japanese or by rock stars like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and the Stones.

What kind of amp set up are you using to record this album?
I am using my Victoria amps with a Victoria reverb unit as well. I also cut some acoustic stuff with my Trace Elliot amp. Everybody is really giving me a big smile on some of the acoustic work that we've done. I've got just a little more work to do on it.

I love it when you do your acoustic stuff at your shows up here. Those are some of the best moments.
Well, maybe I can sell you one of these records then. (Laughs) I'm doing a song by Tony Joe White, who recorded a song called "Did Somebody Make A Fool Out of You" that I always loved. I had never met him and he walked into the studio yesterday. I told him that I couldn't do as good a job as he did. He listened to the song that we had recorded and said, "Don't touch that one, just leave it like you got it." It was the first time that I had met him and what a way to do it. He comes in on a session where I'm recording one of his songs and he tells me that I'm doing a great job. Things like that give you a big lift too.

I've heard that Steve Cropper has been hanging around the studio quite a bit.
I did one of Steve's songs called "When The Time Is Right," and he is also on three or four other cuts already and he'll be back in tomorrow. I love working with that guy, man. He's been around.

He's been around almost as much as you.
(Laughs) I don't know, man. He can play, I'll tell you that. I think that he's been on more big records than I have, that's for sure.

For the 5th year in a row now you are going to do an extended string of shows here at Legends. Do you look forward to playing those shows?
Chicago is where I really got my start. The people in Chicago have always been so good and loyal to me. Even before or when I was in between record companies I was still able to make a living and draw people in Chicago. I guess that's why I make it my home. With the weather and everything else in Chicago in January, still they come out and give me that pat on the back. It's wonderful. I always look forward to that. I just hope that I don't wear out my welcome. I get concerned because I can't figure out if I'm playing too many nights or not enough. I always got something to keep my mind busy and that there bothers me all the time. Some people say that I could play three months and in the back of my mind I'm thinkin', "If I did that you would sure enough get tired of me and then you wouldn't come back next year." I am pretty hyped up about the fact that I'm going to add a show and do a nonsmoking show this year. I received an emotional letter from an old friend of mine's wife who told me that he has emphysema. He wants to come see a show and wondered if I might consider doing a nonsmoking show. It really moved me and I am going to do that.

You've been in the nightclub business for many years now, first with the Checkerboard and now Legends. What are a few of the moments that stick out in your mind as being particularly special or memorable?
I actually used to manage a place in Joliet called Club 99 before I had the Checkerboard. That was back in 1962. When I first opened Legends there wasn't really too many people who knew about the club. I would walk out on the stage and wonder where everybody was. Now it's a different story. The managers and all the staff there have done a tremendous job and worked hard to make the place what it is today. I really don't do much now except come in and sit at the end of the bar and answer questions and drink a Heineken. I have had some great memories there. The night that Stevie Ray Vaughan came all the way from Texas to jam with me. There have been some great nights with Eric Clapton, David Bowie, Lou Rawls, Jeff Beck. . . I'm working my butt off just to try and hold Chicago's reputation as a great Blues city. Chicago used to be one of the greatest recording cities that there was anywhere. It used to be called the Blues capital of the world. I am just hoping and doing all that I can to make sure that we don't lose all of that. As long as I'm alive I will be here and be a part of Chicago because I don't want people to forget what a great city this has been, and still is musically.

It has been a rough year for the Blues with the passing of Luther Allison and Johnny Copeland, and now Junior Well's recent health battles. Do you feel even more pressure to carry on that tradition?
There is just a handful of us left. But as I said, until my day comes I will be working hard to keep it going. Hopefully some young people will come up and help keep it going. That's why we have the Blues Monday open jams because you never know what will happen. I remember back when I was doing it like those guys do on Mondays, never thinking that I would be talking to you today telling you I got a club and that I'm hoping to keep the music alive in that way. That's my goal, just to keep something going at Legends and along with all the other clubs. If we fight just as hard as we can, then we can keep that traditional Chicago thing alive. Hopefully, some day we can come up with some kind of Blues Museum in Chicago. I think that Chicago really deserves that. I'm not sure why the city is looking the other way on that. Cleveland has the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame, and Blues is still pushed to the back as far as that is concerned. So I'm hoping that someday someone will wake up and see that we have had the greatest Blues players in the world live and die there. There should be something to honor them.

The Blues scene in Chicago in the '60s and '70s had to be incredible with Muddy, Howlin' Wolf, you, Otis Rush, and others playing around the city nearly every night.
Oh man, that's just a few of them. You had Little Walter, Jimmy Reed, the late Earl Hooker who was one of the greatest guitar players that I ever met, Freddy King, Magic Sam. It would be easier to name the Blues players who wasn't living there at that time. I think maybe Lightnin' Hopkins wasn't living there, but I first met T-Bone Walker in Chicago and I'm not sure if he was living there or not. I could go on naming names until tomorrow if you wanted me to. So, I don't think Chicago is getting what it deserves. There should be a spot where people can drive by and be reminded that Chicago is where it all started. With Chess Records, and VeeJay and Federal Records, we really had something going on then, but it's not like that any more. That's why it means so much having a Blues club there. We're trying to keep the tradition going.

I think that your generation of bluesman have been pretty successful in passing the torch because there are quite a few young bluesmen getting some recognition and taking the music in new directions. You have Larry McCray, Bernard Allison, and Tab Benoit, and then the real youngsters such as Kenny Wayne Shepard and Jonny Lang, who I believe is supposed to do a song with you on this album.
Yeah, I think that Jonny is coming in next week. He was in Japan but I think he is gonna stop by and do something with me. Speaking of those guys, all that I can hope is that they will be able to keep it going. I just keep my fingers crossed. I've worked hard all my life to play the music that I love, but the one thing that makes all the difference is exposure. The truth is, when you're black and play the blues you don't get the same kind of exposure that you do if your white. I'm not ashamed to say that. I've played my ass off all of my life, and I have never let that get in my way. I was out there playing the same way I do now and everybody was ignoring me. I was still out there doing my best, because I was doing what I love. If they wanted to record me it was fine, if they didn't it was fine. I just worked during the day and kept playing my guitar at night. I used to work days just ten blocks from where Legends is now, never dreaming that I would own a club there. I would leave my job driving a truck at the corner of Racine and Randolph and go right out to play my guitar and come home at three or four in the morning and get up at seven and do it all over again. I don't regret one day of it. If I had to do it all over again I would do it just the same.

There has been talk of Buddy Guy's Legends expanding to some new cities. Is this something that you are excited about?
Very much so. I think that it can only help keep the Blues going. Chicago was the main place for me, but there are some other cites out there that also have great musical traditions. There is Memphis with Beale Street, and the great musicians who came from there like B.B. King and Junior Parker, and New Orleans and all the wonderful music that has come from there. There are some other cities we are looking at as well. I am doing a tune from the late great Louis Jordan on this session. You used to be able to hear great music at all hours of the night in New Orleans and it still never closes. I'm trying to expand the music that I love so that young people can have a place to hear and play this great music and maybe they will fall in love with it as much as I did. I want the music to get exposure, but as far as I'm concerned if the music never reaches the popularity of some other types of music, as much as I love it, I will keep playing it until I'm 120 years old - if I live to be that age.

What have you enjoyed most about making your living as a musician?
I would say the opportunity to meet the greatest people in the world. The most enjoyable and memorable things that I do are when I go to the stage or sit and answer peoples' questions and just get to know them a little. The world is full of angry people, man. I think that music speaks all languages, and normally when I pick up my guitar on a given night and strike a note I usually see someone smile. When I see that, it goes through my head that with all the stuff going on in the world, that I was able to make this person smile with my music. That is what I enjoy most of all, is when I can see people smile listening to the music that I play or that other people play. That's where the joy of playing music is for me.