For this recording session Buddy Guy has returned to his roots and used a recording studio called Sweet Tea, the Oxford, Mississippi studio, is also owned by the producer of this album, one Dennis Herring. For this session Mr Herring has assembled an extraordinary band of black Mississippi veterans in the shape of Spam on Drums and Sam Carr also on drums along with some younger white players Jimbo Mathus on rhythm guitar on bass Davey Faragher and another drummer in the form of Pete Thomas.
The opening track of this 2001 recording finds Buddy half-singing and half-muttering while he picks out the tune of the song “Done got old”. With the opening line of the track proclaiming “well, I done got old, can’t do the things I used to, cause I’m a old man, and I’m not the same”. As the song ends on the line “I’m a very old man” and the strumming of his acoustic guitar fades into the distance you get the impression that this going to be a laid-back country blues album.
As the snare drum of “Baby please don’t leave Me” played by Spam is heard with the bass player Davey Faragher counting 1, 2, that impression is soon dispelled as the dirtiest sounding bass with the slackest strings is heard along with the incendiary guitar playing of buddy Guy who is singing “Oh baby please”. This pounding riff whish is basically the whole song distorts and bends it’s way for buddy to play a relentless solo in the middle to great effect, making the track a wall of thumping bass and riffs that ends with the sound of controlled feedback.
As the third song “Look what you got” starts with the same dirty sounding bass and crunching snare drum, the rhythm guitar playing of Jimbo Mathus can be heard picking out the main theme, this allows Buddy the space to play some powerful sounding solo’s that he now can elongate to his hearts delight.
“Stay all night” is a song that shows the playing skills and musicianship of all involved, as Buddy can solo in between the powerhouse sounding band.
The following track “Tramp” finds some of Buddy’s signature guitar pyrotechnics played along the back of the backing bands rock steady playing, as the track ends a voice can be heard to cry “you are out there on your own”.
The song “She got the devil in Her” has a great vocal intro “lets do it” this is the cue for more dirty sounding bass and pounding drums and superb guitar solo’s from Buddy, as with the previous tracks this song is low in lyric content but high on gut wrenching guitar playing. For the song “I gotta try you Girl” is the cornerstone of the whole collection for me, not only does the song last more than 12 minutes, Buddy Guy’s guitar playing on this one track reaches a whole new plateau all of it’s own, just sit back and gasp at it’s splendour and power.
“Who’s been Fooling You” is the penultimate track of the album which contains the big sounding bass and drums of the preceding tracks except this time there is a more soulful feel to the song this conveyed by the rhythm guitar sound that all the other sounds are interwoven around.
To close the proceedings Buddy has recorded the only self-penned track on the collection “It’s a Jungle Out There” this song follows the tradition of a narrative song that tells of the singer woes, this song stands out from the others in the collection as it’s sound is boosted by the use of boogie-woogie sounding piano ably played by Bobby Whitlock which adds a counterpoint to the rest of the bands pounding jungle rhythm.
This is a superb album to play when not in the mood for heavy lyric content but just want to feel the power of the blues, played by a powerhouse artist with a slamming band.
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