Updated on
Summary Chicago guitar legend Buddy Guy sees future of the blues and as depressing.
Its scary, Guy said during an interview upstairs at his club, Buddy Guys Legends, in Chicagos South Loop. Im still going to play my music because I love what Im doing, but we need all the support we can to keep the blues alive.After five decades in the business, Guy is doing what he can to make sure the genre and his late contemporaries like Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf and Junior Wells lives on.Earlier this year Guy wrote his autobiography, When I Left Home, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member is mentoring Massachusetts eighth-grader and blues guitarist Quinn Sullivan.And Guy will likely garner attention in December when he receives a 2012 Kennedy Center Honor.He has expressed his fear that it may be all lost after hes gone, said Janice Monti, a sociology professor at Dominican University who studies blues music. I think as hes gotten older hes incredibly aware of this mandate he received from Muddy and the Wolf to keep this all going.Guy says blues music is ignored in an entertainment marketplace obsessed with young artists.Its a tough time for blues because if it was being played, other than satellite radio, on the peak hours, prime time, then somebody would know about it, Guy said.Thats one of the reasons the 76-year-old Guy took on mentoring 13-year-old Sullivan, who he said plays as well as Eric Clapton, me and B.B. King. How do you learn that at that age? Thats a natural. Guy has Sullivan open for him on tour and record on his label.If you dont have role models the young people now will not learn how to play, Guy said.The relationship is a boon for Sullivan, who said he most enjoys trading guitar licks with Guy.
