The Very Best of Buddy Guy

In 1957, Louisiana-born Buddy Guy won a talent contest in Chicago, scoring a contract with Artistic. After the label folded, Guy signed with Chess as a session guitarist and later as a solo act. His stinging guitar solos and impassioned vocals mark this sampler of his classic Chicago blues, recorded over four decades for Chess, Vanguard, Atco and other labels. Buddy Guy has had his own share of the blues as real as the songs he's written and performed. He has struggled to record his influential style of blues, which has inspired guitarists from Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray. These days, he's enjoying a well-deserved higher profile.

This is a taste of his best work. Standouts include When My Left Eye Jumps, This Is The End and two edgy versions of When I First Met The Blues. The Very Best of Buddy Guy features sessions with his brother Phil Guy, longtime associate Junior Wells on harp, Eric Clapton, Willie Dixon, Dr. John and Bill Wyman. It's digitally remastered, with liner notes by Bill Dahl.

-Richard Antone

The Very Best of Buddy Guy is a credible attempt to digitally summarize Buddy Guy's entire pre-Silvertone career on a single 18-song disc. It encompasses the guitarist's 1957 demo "The Way You Been Treating Me," two killer Cobras, four of his hottest Chess sides, a couple notable Vanguards, a pair of alluring Atlantics, and three tremendously unsubtle 1981 items from Guy's days with the British JSP label. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide