So playing Rock n’ Roll in your 70’s, playing punk roll in your 80’s doesn’t seem right. But you can keep singing the blues right into your golden years – just listen to Pinetop Perkins who’s about to turn 100!, or Hubert Sumlin who turn 80 next year, or B.B. King who past 80 five years ago. So at 74 years young Buddy Guy‘s one of the young guys! And this youngster has just released a terrific new album Living Proof. I’ve said before that I’ve never been a big Buddy Guy fan but after the release of Skin Game and now this album I may have to rethink my position!
The album kicks off with two autobiographical tracks “74 Years Young” followed by “Thank Me” and after the third track the album takes an interesting twist when you hear Lucille on the intro of an historic duet between B.B King and Buddy on the track “Stay Around a Little Longer” where the voices of the two greats intertwine beautifully. The title track “Living Proof” an ode to the power of prayer and religion is another fine track. Followed by another guest appearance this time by the great Carlos Santana on “Where The Blues Begins” and interspersed between these tracks are some standard blues numbers like “Thank Me Someday”, “The Key Don’t Fit” and “Guess What”! The album ends with a fantastic guitar instrumental “Skanky”. So at 74 years young legendary Buddy Guy has given us one of the best if not the best blues albums of the year. We can only hope that like a great wine he’ll get even better with AGE!!
Here are the two greats with “Stay Around a Little Longer”!!
