Chicago Blues: Buddy Gets a New Guitar

(Continued from Chicago Blues: Melvin Shows Off His Handiwork)

Featured Photo: “Buddy Guy, Live at Legends”  Chicago, Illinois—2025

As the crowd clapped and cheered, the emcee introduced the legend:

“And now, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for. Make some noise for the nine-time Grammy Award winner. The Kennedy Center Award winner. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer. The one and only Mr. Buddy-y-y-y-y Guy-y-y-y-y!”

The audience erupted and Buddy’s band began to play. Then—a bit slowly—onto the stage walked the 88-year-old Blues icon and pioneer of the Chicago Blues sound, with a broad smile stretched across his face. He threw his arms wide open to the crowd…

…and turned toward the back bar where we were sitting, giving us a nice view.

As he grabbed the neck of his guitar and got ready to play, an unexpected look clouded his countenance—somewhere between confusion, concern, and dismay.

Something felt wrong to him. Something looked wrong to me. Something about the guitar. It seemed as though he couldn’t find the right place for his fingers on the frets or maybe the strings didn’t feel quite right. He searched for one of the crew beside the stage to assist him.

Then he started playing and his smile returned. He was ready to have some fun…

…but the smile didn’t last long. After just ten seconds, he looked down at his guitar…

…and yelled over at the crew…

…while he kept on picking at the strings. Five seconds later, his guitar began to screech with feedback—rather like fingernails on a chalkboard. As he played, it seemed the instrument just kept bleating out the wrong notes.

He looked again for help while still playing, then he just stopped altogether. The keyboard player nodded toward the back of the stage where Buddy had first entered. Buddy turned and looked as if expecting something, and then the problem became clear—both to him and to me: Buddy had the wrong guitar! Together we wondered, “Where is that black-and-white polka-dot number?” And almost magically it appeared: a stagehand rushed out and passed it to him…

…then helped him shed the wrong axe…

…and swap it with the one he wanted.

With the right instrument in his hand, he turned toward us and seemed to say, “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ ‘bout!” So, everything was finally OK: you can see it on Buddy’s face—captured in today’s Featured Photo—as he cradles his familiar spotted guitar. He maintained his smile for most of the rest of the night while he regaled us with the Blues.

So, there he was: this living legend up on stage, headlining the club that bears his name. But where did he come from? How did he get here? What path did he follow to achieve success and stardom?

George “Buddy” Guy was the first of five children—born in 1936 and raised in Lettsworth, Louisiana—to parents Sam and Isabel, who were sharecroppers. As a child, Buddy worked picking cotton at 25¢ per 10 pounds. He learned to play guitar on a two-string instrument he made himself from baling wire strung between two nails on a board. He was later given a Harmony acoustic guitar and eventually started developing his signature sound on an electric  Fender Stratocaster.

In the mid-1950s, Buddy began performing with bands in Baton Rouge, but he moved up to Chicago in 1957 and fell under the influence of Muddy Waters. He started recording soon afterwards, eventually signing with Chess Records, and teamed up with the likes of Ike Turner and Junior Wells.

But Buddy’s early career was impeded by his record company, which refused to record him playing in the novel style he used in his live shows. The founder of Chess Records denounced his playing as “just making noise”, and he used Buddy mainly as a session guitarist to back Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Koko Taylor and others. As late as 1967, Buddy worked as a tow truck driver while playing clubs at night.

In 1969, he appeared onstage at the “Supershow” in Staines, England, which also included Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Stephen Stills, Buddy Miles, and Glenn Campbell. After his unsuccessful initial effort as a solo artist, Buddy’s career was resurrected during the Blues revival of the late 80s and early 90s—a resurgence sparked by Clapton’s request that he be part of the “24 Nights” all-star Blues guitar lineup at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

And in 1990, his fortunes took another significant turn for the better when Buddy signed with Silvertone Records—a detail I’ll come back to in my post next week. Fifteen years later, in 2005, hailing his success, a New York Times music critic noted:

“Mr. Guy mingles anarchy, virtuosity, deep Blues and hammy shtick in ways that keep all eyes on him. He loves extremes: sudden drops from loud to soft, or a sweet, sustained guitar solo followed by a jolt of speed, or a high, imploring vocal cut off with a rasp. Whether singing with gentle menace or bending new curves into a Blue note, he is a master of tension and release, and his every wayward impulse is riveting.”

So that’s his history, but what’s with that guitar of his? Although he’s played numerous guitars over the course of his career, Buddy has become known for his custom model Fender with its characteristic polka-dot finish. In a 2022 interview, he explained the polka-dots were a tribute to his late mother and meant to remind him of a lie he told her when leaving home to start his career in Chicago.

“…Back to my mother and that polka-dot: I lied to her and told her, ‘I’ma make double the money, I’ma send you some money, and I’ma drive back down here to Louisianna in a polka-dot Cadillac.’ And I knew I was lyin’. I knew I didn’t never want to buy a polka-dot Cadillac ’cause if you got famous, that polka-dot would show up everywhere you went. You couldn’t rest ’cause wherever you go, they’d recognize you. So anyway, my mother passed away and I said, ‘Oh man, I didn’t get a chance to tell her I lied to her about that polka-dot Cadillac.’ And I went to Fender and I told ’em, ‘I need something to remind me of that big lie I told my mom about that polka-dot Cadillac.’ I said, ‘I’d like to get a polka-dot guitar made so I’d have that with me the rest of my life.’”

Buddy’s polka-dot guitar and that same polka-dot motif have featured on his album covers since 1994’s “Slippin’ In”, which I mentioned in an earlier post.

And this year, as he turns 90, Buddy Guy is still honoring his mother, holding that guitar and wearing a flashy jacket emblazoned with those same polka-dots whenever he plays the Blues live on stage.

I imagine his mom must have been very proud of Buddy and his success, whether or not she ever found out that he’d lied about that Cadillac.

(To be continued…)