By the River

Every time I listen to “London Calling” by the Clash and hear the line, “And I… live by the river” I think of some old Chris Farley skit. What was it? He’s some sort of high-pressure sales guy or motivational speaker… can’t recall. I just remember that he keeps telling them he lives “in a van by the river.”

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Been listening to Buddy Guy’s Sweet Tea album a bit lately, as Launch finally picked it up.

Imagine this:

You’re Buddy Guy. You’ve played with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and somehow managed to get some acclaim from your overlong partnership with Junior Wells. Eric Clapton says you’re the best guitarist he’s ever heard. Jimi Hendrix stood at your feet while you staked your turf back in the 60s. You’ve won tons of awards, you hung out with Stevie Ray Vaughan, and in fact, you helped put Chicago on the blues map.

And suddenly you make an album styled after the new sounds coming out of Mississippi’s hill country. This isn’t the delta stuff, the wellspring for the blues as we know it. This is the repetitive, droning, riff-based music knocked out by guys like RL Burnside and the late Junior Kimbrough. Hell, some areas up there are so isolated that a fife and drum “blues” tradition has survived, which has distinct parallels and origins in Senegal.

Was it your choice? Or did someone point out to you that the blues is evolving without you, maybe wield a little influence? Maybe you found yourself diggin’ the sounds of guys like Robert Belfour and other Fat Possum artists.

(Strange, eh?)

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Come on lunch!