No signs of slowing down

Out of all the musical genres that are accessible to listeners around the world, there is only one that is truly American: the blues. Out of the blues came jazz, and to a certain extent rock and roll, but the blues is where it all began. The blues giants, artists such as Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, B.B. King and Bessie Smith, have all long passed away. But one legend is still alive and going strong.

That man is George ‘Buddy’ Guy. He began his career 60 years ago, mainly as a session guitarist, but his work caught the ears of up-and-coming shredders such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan (so much so that Clapton has called him “his Elvis”). There was enough of a rock edge in his playing that The Rolling Stones brought him on tour through parts of the early 1970s. His career really took off in the late 1980s with a brief blues revival. Now, in 2018, at the ripe age of 81 years old, Guy has just released his eighteenth solo album, The Blues Is Alive And Well.

Right off the bat, the biggest shocker is just how darn good Guy sounds. The man’s voice and guitar playing are just as raspy and aggressive as that of someone half his age. The music is not really anything atypical of what he’s been playing his whole career, but Guy has no interest in bending genres. And if it ain’t broke, why fix it? He’s damn good at what he does.

The album’s lyrics are all pretty standard blues fare but there’s a common theme that shines through, the concept of aging. Guy seems to acknowledge the fact that he’s getting up there in age, especially on songs “When My Day Comes” and “End Of The Line.” However, on the title track, Guy presents a defiant middle finger to the face of time, proclaiming that the blues is “alive and well.” He still brings so much energy into the set, both in his aggressive vocal melodies and his thick, distorted guitars and sinful bends. People may disagree on whether the blues is actually alive and well, but no one can dispute that Guy sure as hell is.