Buddy Guy w David Ritz – When I Left Home: My Story
When Buddy Guy tells the story of meeting Muddy Waters for the first time he recalls this: “As Muddy kept talking I found myself tapping my foot to his words. He was talking alright, but it was more like he was singing.” You will find yourself doing the same as you read the pages of his new autobiography When I Left Home from Buddy Guy and coauthor David Ritz. Described in loving detail and poetic vernacular, the story of Guy’s life from his humble childhood as sharecropper’s son in Louisiana who got his first guitar from a total stranger, to becoming an influential pioneer of early electric blues and now owner of a blues club in Chicago and torch bearer for real blues worldwide, this is essential reading for fans and scholars alike.
Guy likens September 25, 1957 to his second birthday, for he was born again and found his destiny in the great city of Chicago which he and his music are synonymously known for. The vivid tales of Guy’s struggles to rise through the ranks of the scene at a time he describes thus: “There never was, and never will be, another time when so many gunslinger guitarists terrorized the streets of any city,” are full of colorful characters and real legends of a golden age of American music. Guy lovingly recalls how men he called teachers, fathers and friends, lived and died. Men like Muddy, Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Wells and John Lee Hooker who breathed life into the blues and inspired generations of musicians worldwide. The pages are full of quotable anecdotes on “The Blues,” and wisdom in passages such as: “Funny thing about the blues: you play ‘em ‘cause you get’em. But when you play ’em , you lose ’em,” are words to live by.
Buddy Guy named his Chicago club Legends after the blues players who have come before him and never got their due and to honor all those who left us too soon. He invites the readers to find him at the back of the bar where he’ll tell you his story of how the blues shaped his life. It’s one hell of a story and he is a true living legend.
More Info go to: Buddy Guy
Rick J Bowen
