Buddy Guy: Skin Deep

He’s the best damn fool you’ll ever know, with too many tears, from lyin’ like a dog. The seventy-one-year-old Rock and Blues legend, who influenced the likes of Hendrix, Clapton, and Vaughan, has released his latest album, “Skin Deep.” The twelve track LP consists of songs like, “Hammer And A Nail,” “Lyin’ Like A Dog,” and “Smell The Funk,” and features Susan Tedeschi, guitar greats, Derek Trucks, Eric Clapton, and Robert Randolph, and nine-year-old guitar prodigy, Quinn Sullivan.

Mr. Guy and his guitar do not fail to please, especially on tracks like, “Best Damn Fool,” and “Everytime I Sing The Blues.” The album’s namesake song, mirrors the message of its cover, “Underneath we’re all the same.” “Who’s Gonna Fill Those Shoes,” is a reflective song, referring to Blues greats such as, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King. Playing side by side with Sullivan, he hollers, “They all ruled the world by bending those guitar strings…Lord knows we got a debt to pay…They’re the giants who made the Blues. Who’s gonna fill those shoes?”

While Guy does not name himself among the greats, not many would argue if he had. His personality shines through his lyrics. In “Everytime I Sing The Blues,” he states, “It takes a whole lot ‘o livin’ to make a song come alive,” and as one of the last surviving Blues legends, he should know best. Some lyrics seem to coincide with his usually showy, concert style (i.e., playing his guitar with drum sticks), like in the song “Out In The Woods,” “I got wolf blood in my veins.” While others seem to show his down to earth side, as in, “Hammer And A Nail,” “I ain’t the best, but, I’ll be the best, ‘til the best come around.” One thing is for sure, Buddy Guy has got plenty left to share with the world.