Drew Carey’s a liar. Cleveland doesn’t rock. I just spent five days there, and it really doesn’t rock. Now, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame does rock, and technically it’s in Cleveland. The Browns don’t rock. The Indians are having a decent season, but they don’t rock. Lake Erie doesn’t rock. And Cleveland itself is not an inherently rocking place.
See, this year the annual Radio & Records Convention moved from LA to Cleveland. The R&R Convention is a chance for people in the radio industry to meet with people in the record industry and discuss upcoming projects. It’s a great opportunity for both sides of the music business, but I’ve never been happier to be back home in Las Cruces.
This 4th of July, Las Cruces is going to rock. The city is bringing in blues-legend Buddy Guy to make sure that Las Cruces rocks.
Whether you are into rock, hip-hop or country, it’s all born of the blues. And it couldn’t be more fitting to celebrate America’s birthday with the blues, the lifeblood of all American music. But to fully appreciate this show on Monday night, you need to know a little about the blues, which means knowing a little about Buddy Guy.
Eric Clapton called him the greatest blues guitarist ever, saying that Guy is “the last generation of true blues musicians as we know them.” Jimi Hendrix credited him with being one of his major influences. He has toured with the Rolling Stones, who are huge fans and followers of Guy’s. And this year he was inducted into (Cleveland’s own) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Clapton and B.B. King.
George “Buddy” Guy was born in 1936 in Lettsworth, LA, about 50 miles north of Baton Rouge. His parents were sharecroppers, but stressed to Buddy the importance of education. He helped pick cotton, but they limited his farm work to after school and Saturdays. Sunday was for church activities.
He fell in love with the guitar early, and taught himself to play by listening to the radio. He moved to Baton Rouge to start high school, but shortly thereafter his mother suffered a stroke. Buddy dropped out and moved back to Lettsworth to take care of her. He took whatever work he could find, often playing guitar in small clubs for small checks.
In 1957, with $100 in his pocket and his guitar on his back, he left Louisiana for the blues-Mecca of Chicago. While performing in Chicago’s blues clubs, he was signed to Chess Records. And the legend of Buddy Guy began to spread.
As a studio musician for chess, he played with other greats like Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Koko Taylor and Howlin’ Wolf. But, like Hendrix, his success as a solo artist came first in England. In his 45 years in the music business, Guy has played with a generation of legends. More importantly, he has inspired a generation of legends.
On March 14, Eric Clapton inducted Buddy Guy into the Hall of Fame by saying, “He was, for me, what Elvis was for most other people. He was doing all things we later associated with Hendrix: playing with his teeth, behind his back…When I see him, I become an ecstatic, helpless teenager all over again.”
This Monday night, I hope you do, too.
-From Pulse
June 30, 2005
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