BUDDY GUY

Born to Play Guitar

RCA/Silvertone

14 tracks, 59:20 running time

By Jeff Johnson

“I got six strings loaded on my bad machine, show me the money and I’ll make this damn thing scream,” Buddy Guy sings on “Born to Play Guitar,” the title track of his axe-driven 28^th studio album. To punctuate the theme, a black-and-white cover photo shows Guy intently chomping down on the strings of a vintage Stratocaster. The Chicago blues legend might be accused of taking a mercenary stance on this familiar bluesman-with-a-whip refrain, but he didn’t actually pen the autobiographical-toned theme. Producer-drummer Tom Hambridge takes a writing credit on this and 11 other numbers, while Guy, at age 79, co-wrote five of the 14 songs. And simply put, the songs that Guy penned himself on Born to Play Guitar, most notably “Crying Out of One Eye,” “Turn Me Wild” and “Crazy World,” are the standouts of the disc.

Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues, the guitar superstar’s 1991 debut disc for Silvertone Records, created a commercially successful formula that Guy repeated for most of his late-career output, including five Grammy-winning discs. But while the early Silvertone albums were littered with rehashed pop-soul commercial hits, Born to Play Guitar contains just two non-originals. And the guest stars who often chew up the scenery are less obtrusive this time. There’s ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons on “Wear You Out,” the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ harpist Kim Wilson on Charles Brown’s “Too Late,” U.K. soul singer Joss Stone  flirtatiously duetting on Brook Benton’s “(Baby) You Got What It Takes” and a tastefully reserved Van Morrison on “Flesh & Bone.” The latter, reverently dedicated to B.B. King upon his recent passing, reflects onetime-firebrand Guy’s fully evolved status as elder statesman for the blues. And since one good tribute deserves another, Guy closes with “Come Back Muddy,” a wistful remembrance of good times shared between mentor Muddy Waters and eager apprentice Guy.

Guy obviously benefitted from his association with the Delta blues masters. Even at this advanced stage of his career, his fretwork can be dazzling, and his vocals have lost none of their bite. While his acclaimed, top-selling albums of more recent vintage have left hard-core blues lovers pining for the naked emotion of his early Cobra Records sides, he still jumps up and surprises even the purists now and then. Fortunately, Born to Play Guitar is one of those occasions. 4 out of 5 Stars.

###